CLEVELAND — Ninety days has turned out to be an important number related to the presidential race in Ohio. That's because there's a state law on the books that has caused problems for both Republicans and Democrats in the past.
THE QUESTION
As we look ahead to the November presidential election, we've been getting this question from viewers: "Will President Joe Biden be on the Ohio ballot?"
SOURCES
To explain where this question is coming from, we checked the following sources:
- The Ohio Revised Code
- The Ohio Attorney General's Office,
- The Ohio Secretary of State's Office
- President Biden's campaign
THE EXPLANATION
Staff from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose's office let the Ohio Democratic Party know in a letter dated Apr. 5, 2024 that Ohio's deadline to certify a presidential candidate for the ballot is Aug. 7, because Ohio law requires a presidential candidate to be certified 90 days before the election. The letter noted that the Democratic National Convention (DNC) ends 75 days before the Nov. 5 election, which means that Biden won't become the official Democratic nominee in time to meet Ohio's certification deadline.
When we asked Biden's campaign what they plan to do about this, they told us:
"Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states. State officials have the ability to grant provisional ballot access certification prior to the conclusion of presidential nominating conventions. In 2020 alone, states like Alabama, Illinois, Montana, and Washington all allowed provisional certification for Democratic and Republican nominees."
But a staff attorney from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office says that's not an option in Ohio, as outlined in an advisory letter sent to the Secretary of State's office which also says LaRose's office can't waive the 90-day deadline, quoted in relevant part here:
"(1) Ohio law does not permit 'provisional certifications' and (2) the Secretary of State lacks authority to waive the certification deadline found in R.C. 3505.10(B)(1)."
This was actually a problem for both the Republican and Democratic parties in 2020, but the Ohio legislature passed a bill to fix the issue well ahead of time, in 2019, as explained by Ben Kindel from LaRose's office:
"This law has been on the books for many years. It was changed to a 90-day deadline in 2009, and the General Assembly voted in 2019 to temporarily make an exception for both major parties ahead of the 2020 election, so this isn't a new issue. Our office also noted the change in a 2019 advisory and specifically clarified that future presidential elections would revert back to the 90-day requirement."
We've reached out to Ohio’s House and Senate leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties to see what they plan to do this time, and they haven’t answered us yet. The people we emailed directly include:
- Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R)
- Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio (D)
- Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R)
- Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D)
THE ANSWER
Given all of this information, and the legislator's lack of response, today we can't VERIFY yet whether Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio this November.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
We can tell you that this same issue regarding certification deadlines has also come up this year in Alabama and Washington. In Alabama, the legislature is working on a bill to overcome this issue, and in Washington, the state will be allowing provisional certification. When we know what our Ohio legislature plans to do about this (if anything), we'll let you know.