Earlier this year, state lawmakers moved a deadline to ensure the Democratic presidential candidate would appear on the Ohio ballot this fall.
But because of a move that Democrats had decided to do weeks ago, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office by the original deadline.
State law sets the presidential certification deadline at 90 days before the general election, which this year would be Aug. 7. The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin Aug. 19, and that's typically when candidates are formally nominated. But that's almost two weeks past the 90-day deadline. After weeks of discussion but no legislation from state lawmakers, in May Gov. Mike DeWine ordered a special session to move that deadline and also to pass a ban on foreign nationals donating to ballot issue campaigns - which is aimed at the redistricting amendment on this fall's ballot.
The 90-day deadline has been moved for three of the four presidential elections since it was created in 2010. The deadline was moved for the elections in 2012 and 2020 because both parties had conventions after it. This time only the Democrats were affected.
But in the end, that move didn't matter. Katie Seewer with the Ohio Democratic Party said delegates voted earlier this week to formally nominate Harris in a virtual roll call, in time to file paperwork by the original Aug. 7 deadline.
“We obviously have had to deal with a lot in the past few years when it comes to Republicans trying to play tricks so we thought it was better to be safe than sorry," Seewer said.
Dan Lusheck, deputy press secretary for the Secretary of State's office, confirmed the DNC had submitted their certificate of nomination by the original Aug. 7 deadline.
"We will review their submission for legal compliance and notify the political party if they’ve met the qualifications for ballot access. The parties using a national convention to nominate their candidates for president and vice president have until Sept. 1 to submit those certifications to our office," Luscheck said in a written statement.
Last week, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose sent a letter to DNC Chair Jaime Harrison demanding party leaders stop using Ohio as the reason to do a virtual nominating convention. Harrison had said the virtual roll call was necessary since the change in Ohio doesn't take effect until Sept. 1, and there was concern about threats of Republican lawsuits that could disenfranchise Democratic voters in Ohio.
