Biden ballot debacle continues in Ohio Statehouse as deadline passes

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Senate passed a bill Wednesday to fix an obscure law that would have prevented President Joe Biden from being on the November ballot, but the House didn't take up their proposal. With this inaction, the state loses the easiest solution to the debacle.

On an even more chaotic day than usual at the Statehouse, tensions ran high as lawmakers only had today to pass regular legislation to get Biden on the ballot — thus sending the bill to the governor's desk by Thursday.

Ohio Democrats need the Republicans' help — and they have somewhat got it, but only within their chambers.

Ohio requires parties to confirm their presidential candidates 90 days before the Nov. election, which would be Aug. 7. But Biden won’t be the official nominee until the Democratic National Convention, which is on Aug. 19.

Democratic leaders were unaware of this, and plenty of other lawmakers across the aisle also didn't know. Sec. of State Frank LaRose didn’t remind Dems until April.

To get Biden on the ballot, the Republican supermajority, one that is already fractured and has significant infighting that has led to the fewest amount of bills passed in a General Assembly in decades, needed to pass something now — all to help the Dems.

RELATED: Ohio lawmakers err in attempt to fix Biden ballot problem

The problem I found

Parties must tell Ohio their presidential nominee before or on Aug. 7.

After being signed by the governor and delivered to the secretary of state's office, bills take 90 days to go into effect.

Ohio law specifically states in Article II, Section 1c: "No law passed by the General Assembly shall go into effect until ninety days after it shall have been filed by the governor in the office of the secretary of state."

Ninety days after May 10 is Aug. 8.

Aug. 8 is the day after the nomination deadline.

After back-and-forths with each House caucus' administration and checking with two additional legal experts, I have concluded that the lawmakers' math was flawed.

This means that they needed to concur on a bill today to send to DeWine by Thursday at the very latest; that way, he could sign it the same day. This doesn't typically happen, and the governor usually takes at least several days, but the administration is eager to fix this problem — and likely would have dealt with it.

Yesterday, I asked DeWine's team if they were ready to sign the bill by the end of this week, and they joked that they were going to check their "ink supply."

After our story broke, lawmakers told me that they moved into gear now, knowing that Thursday was the deadline.

However, that passage deadline has now passed, and there is no bill to show for it.

What happened?

On Tuesday, the House passed their solution out of committee, sending it to the floor.

They completely stripped Senate Bill 92, legislation to allow for August special elections — repealing the 2022 law that banned the vast majority of special elections. They did this despite the fact that legal experts said it was likely illegal to have the August election last year because the state law had outlawed them. Ohio still ended up with a special election, though, as the GOP attempted to curb the proposal to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution. Their attempt to stop it failed.

The main reason why lawmakers often choose to amend bills at the last minute is due to timing. By revising an already passed piece of legislation, one that typically is ready to be passed by the second chamber, the lawmakers fast-track the process of getting it to the governor.

The nomination deadline fix was put into S.B. 92. Instead of having a 90-day requirement, it would now be 74 days. This would likely be a permanent fix.

It is unclear how involved the Senate Republicans have been in this process. I reached out to the original S.B. 92's sponsor, state Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon), but did not hear back.

Despite this bill being ready to go and supported by each side of the House's aisle, the Senate ignored their announcement of the bill.

Senate

On Wednesday morning, the Senate amended House Bill 114, which would have allowed a candidate to use their campaign funds to pay childcare costs while they are campaigning.

They added in a fix for the presidential nominating deadline from Aug. 7 to August 23 — but only for 2024, so it wasn't a permanent fix. Still, Democrats were satisfied with this provision.

"It's a great thing," Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said. "This affects the Democratic candidate being on the ballot, but in the past, it's affected both candidates — Republican and Democrat."

The little-known law was passed in a major omnibus bill in 2010. In 2012 and 2020, exemptions were passed for those years — impacting both parties. In 2016, both the DNC and the RNC held their conventions before the deadline.

However, that wasn't the only thing added.

The lawmakers added in Senate Bill 215, a campaign finance bill. In early March, Republican senators passed legislation meant to stop foreign donations to state ballot-issue campaigns, but Democrats argued the bill goes too far, as it has a provision that could make it harder for grassroots movements to get on the ballot — even with U.S. dollars.

S.B. 215 would prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to campaigns for or against state or local ballot issues. This could be by directly donating from outside the country or by donating to an entity, like a political action committee (PAC).

RELATED: Ohio Senate passes bill to stop foreign donations on ballot campaigns

This addition was unacceptable to the Democrats, Antonio said.

"The language that has been embedded into 114 is yet another attempt to try to silence the voters of Ohio when they disagree with the supermajority of Republicans and go on their own to put together a ballot initiative," Antonio said.

All the Democrats voted no because of S.B. 215. Still, it passed 24-7.

"Republicans in both the House and the Senate aren't going to vote for a standalone Biden bill," Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said, defending why he put the bills all together.

It was then sent over to the House.

House

House session was more disorderly than normal.

The House "informally passed" its version of the Biden fix, S.B. 92. This means it stays on the calendar but doesn't actually pass and isn't put up for a vote. It can be brought up for a vote at a later date.

While this was happening — chaos ensued.

Several members stood up to try to call for a motion to vacate, trying to kick House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) out of his seat. Nothing came of it.

Session was adjourned before debating H.B. 114, much to Stephens' foes' dismay.

As the speaker came over to talk to reporters, GOP lawmakers screamed at him that he shouldn't have his seat.

Click here for an in-depth play-by-play and a history of Republican squabbling.

In brief, this drama stems from January 2023 and how Stephens came to power. The Republican caucus had previously chosen state Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova) as speaker months before the full House floor vote. Twenty-two Republicans (known "affectionately" by the other faction as the "Blue 22") and 32 Democrats voted for Stephens for speaker during the actual vote, while the majority of Republicans voted for Merrin. Stephens, still a conservative, is significantly more moderate than Merrin — he is also more moderate than Huffman.

Regardless of the infighting, it was a no-go on the Senate's proposal.

"We had those conversations and ended up not doing it today," Stephens said about not concurring.

There will be other ways to get Biden on the ballot, he added.

"I think you guys have probably went through a lot of the different possibilities," Stephens said, nonchalantly addressing the questions peppered at him from reporters. "I'm not concerned about that happening."

Why this may be happening

Republican infighting has been the theme of the 135th General Assembly.

"We cannot do the good work for the people — of passing good public policy — because there is a proxy war going on for who's going to be the next speaker of the house," Antonio said.

As the days go on, the 64-year-old Huffman and 53-year-old Stephens have been bickering about nearly everything since the fall: marijuana, the budget, education — but most importantly, speakership.

Huffman finally announced a long-expected move — his interest in running to unseat Stephens in January 2025. He suggested to me in March that Stephens is not doing a good enough job and said that Democrats have reached out to him about a possible speaker run.

RELATED: Republican squabbling keeps marijuana off shelves months after legalization

The two GOP leaders are too busy fighting with each other that nothing gets done, Democrats say.

"We see, once again, that politicians and the politics in playing games with this piece of legislation ruled the day," House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington). "I think we've officially sunk lower than Alabama at this point."

Alabama, arguably one of the most red states in the country, was able to get Biden on the ballot last week by fixing a similar law.

Results

Nothing is getting sent to DeWine, so nothing will be signed by the deadline. However, lawmakers can pass a Biden fix at any time, as long as it has an emergency clause allowing the legislation to go into effect immediately instead of with a 90-day waiting period. However, getting an emergency clause is a tough task for a divided chamber — it requires a 2/3 majority to pass, instead of a simple majority.

Antonio said she isn't worried, because she thinks the courts will get involved.

"We don't know until it all plays out," Antonio said. "But Joe Biden will be on the ballot in the state of Ohio, it may not happen with the legislature."

Case Western Reserve University law professor Jonathan Entin disagreed that a court would be able to do anything.

RELATED: Can Ohio overcome dysfunction to fix Biden ballot conflict? It’s unclear

LaRose issued this statement a few hours after the House adjourned without passing anything.

“The facts are still very clear on this. The Democrats scheduled their nominating convention too late to comply with Ohio law, and they’ve admitted that this unforced error creates a problem for their presidential candidate that needs to be fixed. For weeks now I’ve said the easiest way to do that is to pass temporary legislation that adjusts the deadline by which they can certify their nominee to my office. Unfortunately, the Ohio House couldn’t get that done today, it appears because Democrats are more interested in protecting foreign billionaires who want to bankroll Ohio’s elections than in getting their presidential candidate on the ballot. The House still has time to act with an emergency vote, and it’s in the best interest of Ohio voters, as well as our ability to quickly and effectively prepare for a general election, that they find a way to do so.”

It is unclear how the lack of passage of H.B. 114 is the fault of Democrats, the superminority. The Republicans technically have a supermajority and could do it without Democratic votes.

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.