LaRose wants Democrats to stop blaming Ohio for virtual roll call

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose wants Democrats to stop blaming Ohio for the party’s plan to use a virtual roll call to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as its presidential nominee.

In a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harris released Thursday, LaRose demanded the party stop using the state’s ballot access deadline to justify what he called a nominating scheme.

“I’ve seen numerous media reports and interviews within the past week in which you repeatedly cite Ohio’s Aug. 7 ballot access deadline as justification for your committee’s intent to conduct a ‘virtual nominating convention,’” LaRose wrote in the letter. “As you know, the Ohio General Assembly made an exception to the ballot access deadline for the 2024 presidential election, passing legislation signed by the governor that temporarily extends it to Sept. 1, 2024.”

The rules committee of the Democratic National Convention, in a meeting Wednesday, voted 157-3 for online voting. If Harris is the only candidate, that process begins Aug. 1 and will be completed in seven days. No other candidates have emerged.

Throughout the spring and early summer, Ohio Republicans at the Statehouse failed to pass an extension of the deadline, prompting Democrats at the state and national levels to express concern that a compromise could not be reached.

During the ongoing debate, national Democrats announced in late May that they planned to nominate President Joe Biden through a virtual roll call before Ohio’s deadline.

Five days later, on June 3, Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill with an emergency clause that extended the ballot deadline to Sept. 1 and banned foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns.

LaRose said in a news release that he had seen several media reports showing Harrison referencing Ohio’s original law as the reason Democrats would hold a virtual roll call.

“As the state’s chief elections officer, I’ve confirmed with our state’s attorney general that Ohio law does not require the DNC to conduct a ‘virtual roll call’ prior to your scheduled August convention dates,” LaRose said. “I’m confident that your attorneys are well aware of this fact, and I suspect your current rhetorical posturing is part of a plan to replace the incumbent president without a contested convention or any kind of democratic process. It’s clever, if not completely antithetical to your party’s relentless finger-wagging about threats to democracy, but I ask that you stop using Ohio to justify your course of action.”

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, beyond the state’s original deadline.