- Committees in both chambers of the Alabama Legislature introduced bills Wednesday to ensure President Biden appears on the November ballot.
- The legislation reflects accommodations made in 2020 for then-President Trump.
- “We want to ensure that every citizen of the state of Alabama has the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice,” said Democratic state Sen. Merika Coleman, who sponsored her chamber’s version of the bill.
Alabama lawmakers on Wednesday approved legislation to ensure President Joe Biden appears on the state’s ballot in November, mirroring accommodations made four years ago for then-President Donald Trump.
Alabama’s House and Senate legislative committees approved identical bills that would delay the state’s certification deadline from 82 to 74 days before the general election to accommodate the date of Democrats’ nominating convention.
The bills now go to the full chamber. Alabama has one of the earliest candidate certification deadlines in the country, which has caused difficulties for any political party with a convention date later that year.
THE NUMBERS AND DOBSON WILL FACE OFF IN A VERY WATCHED RACE FOR ALABAMA’S NEW SECOND CONGRESSIVE DISTRICT
“We want to ensure that every citizen of the state of Alabama has the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice,” Democratic Sen. Merika Coleman, sponsor of the Senate bill, told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The issue of Biden’s ballot access has arisen in Alabama and Ohio as Republican secretaries of state warned that certification deadlines fall before the Democratic National Convention begins on August 19. Biden’s campaign has asked the two states to accept provisional certification, arguing as has been done in past elections. Republican election bosses have refused, arguing they have no authority and will enforce the deadlines.
US President Joe Biden, March 31, 2022. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
Democrats proposed the two Alabama bills, but the legislation made it out of committee with support from Republicans, who have 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 justice.
Republican Rep. Bob Fincher, chairman of the committee that heard the House bill, said this is “not the first time we’ve run into this issue” and that the state made concessions.
“I would like to think that if the situation was on the other foot, this would be solved by now. And I think Alabamians have a deep sense of justice when it comes to politics and elections,” said Republican Senator Sam Givhan. he said during the committee meeting.
Trump faced the same problem in Alabama in 2020. The Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature passed legislation in 2020 to change the certification deadline for the 2020 election. The bill stated that the change was made “to adapt to the dates of the 2020 Republican National Convention. However, a lawyer representing the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee wrote in a letter to Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen that it was a provisional certification that allowed Trump to be on the ballot in 2020, because There were still issues with the GOP date even with the new 2020 campaign deadline.
Allen has maintained that he does not have the authority to accept provisional certification.
Similarly, in Ohio, Attorney General Dave Yost and Secretary of State Frank LaRose, both Republicans, rejected a request by Democrats to administratively suspend the state’s voting deadline by agreeing to a “provisional certification” for Biden.
In a letter Monday, Yost’s office told LaRose that Ohio law does not allow the procedure. LaRose’s office relayed that information, in turn, in a letter to Democratic attorney Don McTigue. LaRose’s chief legal counsel, Paul Disantis, noted that it was Democrats who defended the state’s voting deadline, one of the earliest in the country, 15 years ago. There are 90 days left until the general elections, which this year are on August 7.
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Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio said she is waiting to hear from the Democratic National Committee on how to proceed. One of its members, state Sen. Bill DiMora, said he has legislation for a short- or long-term solution ready to be implemented when the time comes.
