Biden’s Embarrassing Ballot Debacle Puts Him at the Mercy of Deep Red States

What goes around, comes around. That’s not a legal statute, nor is it in the Constitution (perhaps it’s part of Murphy’s law?). However, it certainly seems to apply to the Left’s furious attempt to “disqualify” Donald Trump from primary ballots across the country.

Legally, their argument was absurd: The 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause” disqualified the former President from running in 2024. More than 30 states faced legal action over it; and the Colorado case, in which the ACLJ represented the state GOP, was expedited to the U.S. Supreme Court. All this, the Left said, was to “protect our democracy.”

But things change fast. Not only did the Supreme Court unanimously obliterate the argument, but Trump went on to dominate the GOP primary race. So that went around. And now, it is, indeed, coming back around – for Biden and the Left.

Currently, Joe Biden will not appear on the general election ballot in at least two states, Ohio and Alabama. Crazy, right? And to be clear, it isn’t due to any legal action or argument from Republicans. The cause might come down to a simple – and embarrassing – clerical error from the Democratic National Committee.

The problem in Ohio is particularly puzzling. State law requires both parties to nominate their candidates at least 90 days before the general election. In this case, August 7 is the deadline, except the Democrats’ nominating convention in Chicago isn’t until August 19. Someone should have seen that coming. Regardless, Biden’s reelection campaign is “monitoring the situation.”

A similar issue exists in Alabama, where the nomination deadline is August 15, four days before the Democrats’ convention. In both states, the Republican Secretary of State sent a letter to the Biden campaign alerting them of the problem. Not a good look for Sleepy Joe.

So how should the issue be fixed? Biden and the Democrats have only two options. First, they could shift their convention to an earlier date to accommodate the certification deadlines. That won’t happen, considering these events are strategically planned more than a year in advance. Second, the respective state legislatures could pass a law that grants provisional ballot access by delaying certification deadlines to accommodate President Biden. That’s more likely.

But here’s the kicker. Both Ohio and Alabama have deep red legislatures, meaning any action they take to help Biden get on the ballot would be a BIG favor, and it would have to happen fast. Once upon a time, the ACLJ fought Biden’s allies at the Supreme Court to keep Trump on primary ballots and preserve your right to vote. The difference here is no one is contriving a fallacious constitutional argument to keep Biden off the ballot. Biden and the Democrats made a tactical mistake – an unforced political error in how they scheduled their convention. Biden now needs a helping hand from the same political party he’s trying to defeat. This political poetry is dripping with irony.

All this begs the question: Will President Biden ultimately be on those ballots in November? Probably. But it will have to be because one party chooses to bail out the other to preserve democracy.