NEW: Biden Is Off the Ohio General Election Ballot After State Legislature Tells Him to Pound Sand

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

As things stand, Joe Biden will not be on Ohio's general election ballot in November, setting up potentially disastrous down-ballot consequences for Democrats.  

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For months, the president and his party have been pushing the legislature to pass a "fix" that would allow him to make the state deadline in early August. On Wednesday, the Republican-led legislature justifiably told him to pound sand. 


RELATED: Ohio's Sec of State Informs Dems That Biden's Name May Not Make November Ballot


The fix won’t happen through the legislature, said Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, and Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, during separate gaggles Tuesday morning.

“There’s just not the will to do that from the legislature,” Stephens said. 

Russo said she was skeptical the fix was ever going to happen in the legislature. 

“We’ve seen the dysfunction here in this place,” she said. “And I think we’ve seen that folks have not been able to put aside partisanship and hyper-partisanship and infighting. … I think at this point, you’re probably going to see either, you know, some sort of inner party effects or perhaps court action.”

At issue is the fact that the Democrat National Committee (DNC) flouted known state law in Ohio and scheduled the close of its nominating convention on August 22nd. The deadline to file as a candidate for the general election ballot is August 7th. That means Biden will not technically be the nominee in time to qualify. 

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While Biden was never going to be competitive in Ohio, his absence could depress turnout, leading to losses in down-ballot races for his party. Notably, all of this is happening with the backdrop of multiple Democrat-led states attempting to forcibly remove Donald Trump from the ballot. Whether this is meant to be payback or not, it's certainly understandable that Republicans wouldn't want to stick their neck out for Biden. 

Naturally, Ohio's moderate Republican governor still wants to see a "fix" happen. 

However, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the legislature needs to make the fix. 

“I have every confidence that it’s going to get done,” he said Tuesday. “No one should worry, they’re going to be able to vote for the president or the former president, whoever they want to vote for. You know, this is not going to be a situation where the president’s name is not on the ballot. So it’s either going to be done by the court, or it’s going to be done by the legislature.”

The legislature doesn't need to do a thing. No one made the DNC arrogantly schedule its convention in conflict with Ohio's ballot deadline. If they are so worried about it, they can skip the formalities and nominate Biden earlier. To change state law to appease a political candidate would be completely out of bounds. As for a court doing it, I'm not sure how a court could justify simply ignoring the written law of the state, though it wouldn't surprise me. 

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DeWine should grow a backbone and stop abiding by double standards. Democrats tried (and so far have failed) to throw Trump off the ballot in Colorado and Maine. Republicans should not rush to save them in Ohio. Let them learn the hard way. 

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