(Columbus) – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose sent a letter today to Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison demanding that party leaders stop using Ohio’s ballot access deadline to justify their presidential candidate nominating scheme.
“I’ve seen numerous media reports and interviews within the past week in which you repeatedly cite Ohio’s August 7 ballot access deadline as justification for your committee’s intent to conduct a ‘virtual nominating convention,’” LaRose writes in the letter. “As you know, the Ohio General Assembly made an exception to the ballot access deadline for the 2024 presidential election, passing legislation signed by the governor that temporarily extends it to September 1, 2024.”
Secretary LaRose cites numerous media reports and interviews in which the DNC chair references Ohio’s ballot access law as the reason for the party’s plan to host a virtual convention.
“As the state’s chief elections officer, I’ve confirmed with our state’s attorney general that Ohio law does not require the DNC to conduct a ‘virtual roll call’ prior to your scheduled August convention dates,” LaRose continues. “I’m confident that your attorneys are well-aware of this fact, and I suspect your current rhetorical posturing is part of a plan to replace the incumbent president without a contested convention or any kind of democratic process. It’s clever, if not completely antithetical to your party’s relentless finger wagging about threats to democracy, but I ask that you stop using Ohio to justify your course of action.”
Secretary LaRose concludes the letter by definitively stating Ohio law:
“As long as you certify the nominations of your presidential and vice presidential candidates to my office by September 1, 2024, I assure you they will appear on the Ohio ballot for the November general election.”
LaRose’s letter to the DNC chair includes guidance from the Ohio attorney general’s chief legal counsel reinforcing the state's legal interpretation of the September 1, 2024, ballot access deadline.
AGO Letter regarding House Bill 2
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