Ohio official urges Democrats to stop blaming Buckeye State for Kamala Harris’ virtual roll call vote

(The Center Square) – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose wants Democrats to stop blaming Ohio for their party’s plan to nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as its presidential candidate using a virtual roll call.

In a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harris released Thursday, LaRose urged the party to stop using the state’s ballot filing deadline to justify what he called a nominating scheme.

“I have seen numerous media reports and interviews over the past week in which you repeatedly cite Ohio’s August 7 ballot access deadline as justification for your committee’s intent to hold a ‘virtual nominating convention,'” LaRose wrote in the letter. “As you know, the Ohio General Assembly made an exception to the ballot access deadline for the 2024 presidential election and passed legislation signed by the Governor temporarily extending that deadline to September 1, 2024.”

The Rules Committee of the Democratic National Convention voted 157 to 3 in favor of online voting at a meeting on Wednesday.

If Harris is the only candidate, that process will begin on August 1 and will be completed in seven days. No other candidates have emerged.

Throughout the spring and early summer, Republicans in the Ohio House of Representatives failed to secure an extension, prompting Democrats at the state and federal levels to express concern that a compromise could not be reached.

During the ongoing debate, Democrats at the national level announced in late May that they planned to nominate President Joe Biden through a virtual roll call before the Ohio deadline.

Five days later, on June 3, Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill with an emergency clause extending the voting deadline to September 1 and prohibiting foreign nationals from making campaign contributions.

LaRose said in a press release that he had seen several media reports in which Harrison referred to Ohio’s original law to justify why Democrats would hold a virtual roll call.

“As the state’s chief elections official, I have confirmed with our state’s attorney general that Ohio law does not require the DNC to conduct a ‘virtual roll call’ prior to the party’s conventions scheduled for August,” LaRose said.

“I am sure your lawyers are aware of this fact, and I suspect your current rhetorical posture is part of a plan to replace the incumbent president without a contested convention or any kind of democratic process. This is clever, if not entirely contrary to your party’s relentless finger-pointing about threats to democracy, but I ask that you stop using Ohio as a justification for your actions.”

The Democratic Party convention is scheduled for August 19-22 in Chicago, beyond the state’s original deadline.