Republican secretaries of state in Alabama and Ohio are warning President Joe Biden’s campaign that Biden might not be placed on their general election ballots because the Democratic Party’s late-August convention falls after state ballot deadlines.
It’s not the first time a convention has been held in late August — but it would be a first if any related ballot access questions weren’t solved easily, without fanfare or much controversy. And an NBC News analysis of other state deadlines suggests there aren’t likely to be other related hiccups for Democrats outside of these two states.
The Biden campaign is resolute: It believes he’ll be on every state’s presidential ballot no matter what, pointing to a long history of similar issues getting solved without any fight — including in 2020, in Alabama, Oklahoma, Illinois, Washington and Montana. It’s unclear whether Republicans will ultimately lend a hand to Democrats in either state to solve the issue in the most straightforward way: making small changes to state law.
John Merrill, a Republican who served as Alabama’s secretary of state until 2022, told NBC News that he thought the usually pro forma process shouldn’t fall victim to politics.
“We have a Democratic president today, but four years ago we had a Republican president. We’re going to have a Republican president again and we will have a Democratic president again,” Merrill told NBC News.
“It’s not something that needs to be advanced or promoted only because it’s a Democrat or a Republican [in office].”
He also noted that since the incumbent president’s party traditionally holds its convention second, both parties may find themselves bumping up against these deadlines again.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen publicized a letter warning the state and national Democratic Party that state law requires them to provide his office with a certificate of nomination for president and vice president by Aug. 15, four days before the Democratic convention starts.
“If those certificates are not in my office on time, there will be no certification and no appearance on the Alabama general election ballot,” Allen said in a statement released as his office made the letter public.
“I took an oath to uphold and defend the laws and constitution of my State, and I take that oath very seriously. I will administer Alabama elections in accordance with Alabama law and the deadlines provided therein,” Allen said in a subsequent statement to NBC News.
But both Alabama and Allen have recent experience with this exact issue. When the GOP was in this situation, in 2020, state Republicans voted to relax this deadline to ensure then-President Donald Trump obtained ballot access.
That legislation passed unanimously, with Allen, who was a state legislator at the time, among the “yes” votes. That year, top officials with both the Republican Party and Democratic Party also sent Merrill’s office a “conditional” certification ahead of the convention stating their intention to nominate Trump and Biden respectively. Those conditional certifications were included in Merrill’s 2020 candidate certifications, which are posted on the secretary of state’s website.
Allen’s office didn’t respond to an additional request for comment on whether he’d encourage his former colleagues in the Legislature to pass similar legislation to clear up the potential issue. But a spokeswoman did tell NBC News that they believe state law doesn’t allow Allen to approve any provisional certification ahead of the party’s official nomination.
AL.com reported Thursday that a Democratic Party attorney in Alabama wrote Allen’s office a letter asking the secretary to accept a provisional certification this year too, arguing that a failure to do so would be unconstitutional.
Also on Thursday, a group of Democratic lawmakers filed legislation that would amend the deadline and fix the problem. But they’ll need Republicans…
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