Ohio secretary of state warns Biden won't be on the ballot unless Dems change nomination date

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) warned the state Democratic Party that President Joe Biden will not be on the ballot in the November election unless the party's nomination date is changed to comply with state law.

On Tuesday, LaRose wrote a letter to the Ohio Democratic Party that his office "still has not received communication on behalf of the Ohio Democratic Party or the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that clarifies the party’s intent to comply with Ohio’s ballot access deadline."

The party will officially choose its nominee at the the Democratic National Convention, which is scheduled for Aug. 19-22. However, Ohio's deadline for political parties to certify their nominee is 90 days before the general election, which is Aug. 7 this year.

LaRose mentioned that he had previously told the party that either the DNC will have to move its presidential nomination or the Ohio state legislature would pass a remedy. However, the state House of Representatives failed to pass a bill that would have allowed Biden to be on the ballot before the legislative session ended, the Ohio Capital Journal reported.

"Unless your party plans to comply with the statutory deadline, I am duty-bound to instruct boards of elections to begin preparing ballots that do not include the Democratic Party’s nominees for president and vice president of the United States," LaRose wrote in his letter.

"Let me be clear that this is not an action I wish to take, as I believe it to be in the best interest of Ohio voters to have a choice between at least the two major party candidates for the nation’s highest political office," he continued. "Unfortunately, however, the Ohio House of Representatives has refused to act, and the Democratic Party has so far offered no legally acceptable remedy."

Alabama had a similar issue with its ballot access deadline, and the Republican-led state legislature passed a bill earlier this month to ensure Biden would be on the state's ballot, which the governor signed into law.