President Joe Biden could find himself left off November's election ballot in Ohio, top officials have warned, after it emerged the Democratic National Convention (DNC) is set to fall too late for the state's nomination deadline.
A letter sent by the office of Ohio Secretary of State, Republican Frank LaRose, to Ohio Democratic chair Liz Walters on Friday detailed how the DNC - where the party will officially nominate its presidential candidate - will miss Ohio's deadline to certify candidates by almost two weeks.
The DNC is slated for August 19, while the Ohio deadline is set for August 7 - and the state will have to take action within a month to avoid the looming bureaucratic mishap, LaRose said.
His letter - written by LaRose's legal counsel Paul Disantis, and obtained by US outlet ABC News - read: "The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to convene on August 19, 2024, which occurs more than a week after the August 7 deadline to certify a presidential candidate to the office.
Party officials across the country have registered concerns that Trump is turning once-reliable Democratic voters' heads
Reuters
"I am left to conclude that the Democratic National Committee must either move up its nominating convention or the Ohio General Assembly must act by May 9, 2024 (90 days prior to a new law's effective date) to create an exception to this statutory requirement."
Also copied into the letter were leading Ohio Democrats including the state's House Minority Leader Allison Russo and Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio.
The Ohio Democratic Party confirmed it had received the letter and a review process was underway.
While a Biden campaign spokesperson confirmed to ABC News: "We're monitoring the situation in Ohio and we’re confident that Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states."
MORE BIDEN CHAOS:
A letter sent by Frank LaRose's legal counsel called on either the DNC or the Ohio General Assembly to act before May 9
Reuters
There are two ways officials could skirt around the troubling timings mix-up: the Ohio General Assembly could, as mentioned, pass an exemption waiver before May 9, or the DNC could be rescheduled earlier - an unlikely decision over one state.
In 2020, both the DNC and its Republican counterpart, the RNC, fell after Ohio's deadline - but lawmakers in the state changed their deadlines in order to allow both parties to submit their official picks.
But this year, with the state under Republican control and the RNC falling before the deadline, things may not be so straightforward.
The news of the letter emerged on the same day as an internal Democratic Party memo was circulated detailing panic in the party over fears its own voter registration efforts were helping Donald Trump.
While certain demographics in the US had been considered reliable Democrat supporters, party officials across the country have registered concerns that Biden's expected challenger is turning their heads.
The Washington Post reported that the memo had cast doubt over whether the party should keep on using non-profit organisations to register as-yet-unregistered voters - despite the policy having been successful in the past.
The memo reportedly said: "If we were to blindly register nonvoters and get them on the rolls, we would be distinctly aiding Trump’s quest for a personal dictatorship."
It also argued that the party should target "specific, heavily pro-Biden populations" with registration efforts in order to counteract the unusual jump in support for Trump among non-registered voters.
While Biden's campaign faces a ballot hurdle in Ohio, the Trump campaign could see its momentum undermined by any convictions resulting from the former president's court cases.
However, recent polling found 93 per cent of Trump voters would still vote for the ex-Potus if he was found guilty - which top pollster James Johnson told Jacob Rees-Mogg on GBN America would not likely be a "game changer".
