Will Biden be on the ballot in Ohio and Alabama? It's up to the Republicans

COLUMBUS, Ohio.

The two states, which have a combined 26 electoral votes, have an Aug. 19-22 deadline to get on the ballot ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Attorneys for Biden's campaign have asked the secretaries of state to accept temporary certificates, which will be renewed once Biden is officially nominated.

This is where things got sticky. Election leaders in both states have identified solutions that put Democrats in a difficult position to ask Republicans for help. Although former President Donald Trump is favored to win both states, the absence of a president on the ballot could undermine confidence in the outcome of the election.

Also, can divided parties cooperate in the interest of the electorate?

Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen told The Associated Press that he would not accept the temporary certification because it lacked legal authority. Allen said he sent a letter to the Alabama Democratic Party and they reported the solar issue as a “priority” to allow the issue to be resolved.

“I don't deny anyone. I'm telling them what the law is,” Allen said. “I took an oath to uphold the law of Alabama, and I will.”

State Democratic Party Chairman Randy Kelly accused Allen of “partisan gerrymandering” and noted that Alabama has made adjustments to accommodate past Republican conventions.

Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose sent a similar letter to the Ohio Democratic Party last week. The letter suggested the party would need to reschedule the convention or obtain a legislative amendment by May 9 to put Biden on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The notion of knocking a presidential candidate off the ballot began last year with a legal campaign to remove former Trump from various state ballots, citing a rarely used clause in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution that bars “insurrectionists” from holding office. After Democratic-leaning states including Colorado and Maine did so, Republicans warned they could counter by barring Biden from ballots in red states unless the Supreme Court overturns the actions.

The Supreme Court did just that last month, ruling that individual states cannot ban a candidate for national office under the constitutional provision. But Alabama and Ohio continued anyway, citing technical conflicts between Biden's official nomination and the voting deadline.

Biden's campaign touts precertification in Alabama as precedent, including when Republicans face the same issue in 2020. That year, the state passed temporary certification for Trump and passed legislation that included a one-time change. Democratic lawmakers argue that temporary certification, not legislation, allowed Trump to get on the ballot.

Still, Allen's Republican secretary of state, John Merrill, said Alabama worked it out for Trump and “absolutely the state should do it” for Biden.

“Everyone deserves the opportunity to vote for the party's primary candidates. That is why it is important for the state to do whatever it takes to ensure that every person in the state is properly represented,” he said.

Republicans have also filed provisional endorsements for Trump in 2020 in Montana, Oklahoma and Washington, as did Democrats in those three states for Biden. On Thursday, Washington state agreed to accept Biden's temporary certification to meet his pre-convention deadline. Oklahoma's deadline also comes before this year's convention, but a spokesman said its law anticipates such situations by allowing temporary certificates.

Since Ohio changed the certification period from 60 to 90 days before the general election, state lawmakers have had to adjust it twice, in 2012 and 2020, to accommodate candidates from both parties. Each change was only temporary.

Two Democratic lawmakers in Alabama's Republican-controlled state legislature introduced legislation Thursday to delay the state's certification deadline, and the party looks set to take the lead in Ohio's GOP-led state House.

Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, a Republican, told reporters this week that he has no plans to introduce legislation in his state. He said this is due to minority Democrats, who control only seven of the House's 33 seats.

“I think this is a democratic issue. There has to be a democratic decision,” Huffman said. “It was not offered to me.”

That could leave Biden's fate in Ohio up to LaRose, who has been heavily criticized by Democrats throughout the spring as they compete in bitter U.S. Senate primaries.

Democrats are weighing all their options. If either precertification or legislative motions fail, they could either pursue a lawsuit or call part of the convention early to formalize Biden's certification.

A lawyer for the Biden campaign said the president is already the presumptive nominee and keeping him off the ballot would deprive voters of their constitutionally protected rights.

“President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris will be the Democratic Party's 2024 presidential nominees,” Barry Ragsdale, attorney for the Biden campaign and Democratic National Convention, wrote in an Alabama letter. “They secured the required number of pledged delegates through the state primary process. There is no ambiguity in this matter.”

Some Republicans in both states support working with the Biden campaign to make sure it's on the ballot.

Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, the House's Republican leader, said: “My approach is to try to be as accommodating as possible on a topic that is important to everyone.”

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican from Ohio, said he did not believe anything “malicious” was happening in his state and expected Biden to be accommodated. Vance told The Boston Globe that he hopes Ohioans will support Trump as they did in 2016 and 2020.

“But the people of Ohio can make that choice,” he said, “not a weird ballot.”

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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama. AP writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

Julie Carr Smith and Kim Chandler, Associated Press