DNC moves to nominate Biden virtually as Ohio ballot deadline battle drags on – Washington Examiner

The Democratic National Committee is working to usher President Joe Biden in as the party’s nominee through a virtual roll call ahead of Ohio’s Aug. 7 ballot certification deadline.

The plans to nominate Biden ahead of the party’s Aug. 19 convention come as the party has been working to get Biden on Ohio’s ballot after Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, warned Democrats that he would miss the ballot deadline in the state because the party’s convention falls after the certification deadline.

While conducting a virtual nomination takes some of the fanfare away from the process, the move isn’t totally unprecedented. In 2020, the DNC’s national convention was moved into an almost completely virtual format amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in Ohio and all 50 states, and Ohio Republicans agree. But when the time has come for action, they have failed to act every time, so Democrats will land this plane on our own,” DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can’t chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice.”

The state legislature has since been deadlocked on moving to push the state deadline back, with the Ohio Senate convening for a special session to address it on Tuesday.

A measure introduced by Senate Republicans, and called for by LaRose, to “prohibit campaign spending by foreign nationals” is at the center of the stalemate between the two chambers, which are held by Republicans.

Concerns over foreign spending in Ohio’s elections have grown after a ballot measure to enshrine abortion in the state’s constitution received a boost from Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss last year. The ballot measure passed and was a huge loss for Republicans as they continue to grapple with the issue following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

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However, Republican state House Speaker Jason Stephen looked to pass a “clean” bill to allow Biden to be on the ballot by moving the ballot deadline to Aug. 23. Stephens refused to hold a vote on the Senate bill, and the House version stalled after it was informally passed, deadlocking both bills earlier this month.

“There’s one person at this point who’s responsible for keeping Joe Biden off the ballot in Ohio, and it’s a Swiss billionaire you’ve probably never heard of,” LaRose said in a statement on May 9. “Democrats would rather protect Hansjorg Wyss than get Joe Biden on the statewide ballot, and their motives are clear. They’ve become dependent on Wyss’s dark money to fund everything from their ballot campaigns to their fake news operations.”

Cami Mondeaux contributed to this report.

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