Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said President Joe Biden may be left off the state’s November ballot because of a scheduling issue involving the Democratic National Convention.
In a letter Tuesday to the Alabama Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee, the first-term Republican wrote that the state requires “political parties to provide a certificate of nomination for President and Vice President” 82 days before the general election, setting the deadline on Aug. 15 this year. The Democratic National Convention, however, takes place Aug. 19-22.
“If this Office has not received a valid certificate of nomination from the Democratic Party’s candidates for President and Vice President following its convention by the statutory deadline, I will be unable to certify” the names on the Democratic presidential ticket, Allen wrote.
A former state lawmaker, Allen questioned the results of the 2020 election, promoting lawsuits seeking to challenge Biden’s win. He has also endorsed legislation inspired by conspiracy theories about the election, sponsored a bill banning private donations for election-related expenses and, as secretary of state, withdrew Alabama from the Electronic Registration Information Center, which helps maintain accurate voter rolls.
A similar issue occurred in 2020 when the Republican National Convention took place a few days after Alabama’s general election certification deadline. Alabama lawmakers found a simple solution: The GOP-majority Legislature passed a bill to accommodate the RNC’s 2020 dates so that then-President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence could be certified in time for Alabama’s ballot.
The Biden campaign pointed out as much. In a statement to news outlets about Allen’s letter, it said that the president would be on every state ballot in November.
“State officials have the ability to grant provisional ballot access certification prior to the conclusion of presidential nominating conventions,” the campaign said. “In 2020 alone, states like Alabama, Illinois, Montana, and Washington all allowed provisional certification for Democratic and Republican nominees.” Allen told CNN that state law does not allow “provisional certifications,” leaving open the possibility of further fights over whether Biden could be on the ballot. The Ohio secretary of state’s office sent a similar letter to the Ohio Democratic Party stating that the national convention would come after that state’s 90-day deadline, according to the Washington Post. The state had a similar issue in 2020 with both the Republican and Democratic conventions, and state lawmakers responded with a one-time change to the deadline. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Colorado could not bar Trump from appearing on the ballot after the state Supreme Court found that he could not serve as president because he “engaged in insurrection” after the 2020 election. However, that ruling turned on interpretations of the 14th Amendment, which is not the case in the Alabama dispute.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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