Two states warn that Biden may be kept off their ballots
The Republican secretaries of state in Ohio and Alabama sent letters to local Democratic party chairs this past week with a warning: President Joe Biden, as the law stands now, won’t appear on their states’ ballots in November.
Both secretaries say the president’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago between Aug. 19 and 22 won’t meet their states’ ballot access deadlines, which require candidates’ party certification 82 to 90 days before Election Day.
The Biden campaign has seemed relatively unfazed by the news, assuring reporters that the president will appear on the ballot in all 50 states. Its to 60 days before the election to accommodate Mr. Biden as well as Donald Trump, when both the Republican and Democratic conventions were held in late August. Similarly, a one-time exception for Mr. Trump passed the Alabama Legislature in 2020 (with a vote from current Secretary of State Wes Allen, who was in the Alabama House at the time).
