Alabama lawmakers advance bills to ensure Joe Biden is on the state’s ballot
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama lawmakers on Wednesday proposed legislation to ensure President Joe Biden will appear on the state’s November ballot, mirroring adjustments made four years ago for then-President Donald Trump.
Legislative committees in the Alabama House of Representatives and Senate approved identical bills that would push back the state’s certification deadline from 82 days to 74 days before the general election to accommodate the Democrats’ nominating convention date.
The bills now go to the full chambers. Alabama has one of the earliest deadlines for candidate certification in the country, which has caused problems for every political party that has the later convention date that year.
βWe want to ensure that every citizen in the state of Alabama has the opportunity to vote for the candidate of his or her choice,β Democratic Sen. Merika Coleman, the Senate bill’s sponsor, told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The issue of access to Biden’s ballots has arisen in Alabama and Ohio as Republican secretaries of state warned that certification deadlines will fall before the Democratic National Convention begins on August 19. The Biden campaign has asked the two states to accept preliminary certification, arguing that is what happened in the last election. Republican election leaders have refused, arguing they have no authority, and will enforce the deadlines.
Democrats proposed the two bills in Alabama, but the legislation passed out of committee with support from Republicans who hold a lopsided majority in the Alabama Legislature. The bills were passed with little discussion. However, two Republicans who spoke in favor of the bill called it a matter of fairness.
Republican Rep. Bob Fincher, chairman of the committee that heard the House bill, said this “is not the first time we’ve encountered this problem” and the state has taken it into account.
βI’d like to think that if the shoe was on the other foot, this would be sorted out. And I think Alabamians have a deep sense of fairness when it comes to politics and elections,β Republican Sen. Sam Givhan said during the committee meeting.
Trump faced the same problem in Alabama in 2020. Alabama’s Republican-controlled legislature passed legislation in 2020 to change the certification deadline for the 2020 elections. The bill stated that the change was made βto accommodate the dates of the 2020 Republican National Convention.β However, an attorney representing the Biden campaign and DNC wrote in a letter to Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen that it was a preliminary certification that Trump allowed on the ballot in 2020 because there were still issues with the GOP date, even with the new 2020. deadline.
Allen has maintained that he does not have the authority to accept a provisional certification.
Similarly, in Ohio, Attorney General Dave Yost and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, both Republicans, rejected a request from Democrats to administratively waive the state’s voting deadline by accepting a “preliminary certification” for Biden.
In a letter Monday, Yost’s office told LaRose that Ohio law does not allow this procedure. LaRose’s office in turn conveyed that information in a letter to Democratic attorney Don McTigue. LaRose’s lead attorney, Paul Disantis, noted that it was Democrats who pushed for the state’s voting deadline 15 years ago, one of the first in the nation. It falls 90 days before the general election, which takes place on August 7 this year.
Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio said she is waiting for word from the Democratic National Committee on how to proceed. One of its members, Senator Bill DiMora, said he has legislation for a short- or long-term solution, ready to go when the time comes.
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Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.