Washington state is the latest to have to deal with a possible problem when it comes to putting President Joe Biden on its general election ballots. Following recent events in Ohio and Alabama, election officials in Washington have raised concerns about the times that the Democratic National Committee’s nominating convention and the state’s ballot deadlines will clash.
ABC News got a letter from Stuart Holmes, who was Director of Elections for Democratic Secretary Steve Hobbs and told DNC Chair Jamie Harrison about the problem. The letter points out that the state has until August 20 to certify the ballots, which is the same day that the DNC conference in Chicago starts.
Holmes said that there might be an exception if the DNC turns in a provisional confirmation of nomination by the due date of August 20. Anyway, this problem isn’t just in Washington, DC. The Republican Secretaries of State in Ohio and Alabama have also said they will follow state election laws. This could mean that Biden won’t be on their ballots because of time issues.
These kinds of schedule problems have happened before, but they were usually fixed by letting people use provisional ballots or making changes to the law. However, experts say that the present situation has a political tone to it, with GOP officials using the issue to attack Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Biden team and Democratic leaders are looking into a number of ways to make sure Biden is on the ballots. This includes provisional certification, changes to the law, the possibility of going to court, and the DNC’s choice of making a virtual nomination before the convention.
Even though there are problems, the Biden team is still sure that they will get people to the polls in all 50 states. They want to stress how determined they are to get past the problems caused by competing deadlines and partisan maneuvering.
