On Tuesday, Alabama’s top election official informed Democratic Party leaders on the state and national level that he will not certify the names of their candidates for President and Vice President once the state’s deadline for certified nominees passes.
Alabama’s deadline to certify is August 15, 2024. The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin August 19, 2024.
In response to Secretary of State Wes Allen’s warning on Tuesday, President Biden’s campaign issued a statement saying, “Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states.”
“State officials have the ability to grant provisional ballot access certification prior to the conclusion of presidential nominating conventions. In 2020 alone, states like Alabama, Illinois, Montana, and Washington all allowed provisional certification for Democratic and Republican nominees,” the campaign stated.
In 2020, both the DNC and RNC submitted provisional certifications to Alabama – and both slates of candidates appeared on the ballot. During that election cycle, the certification deadline was moved to August 20, 2020 for that election only. The RNC Convention ended August 27, 2020. The DNC’s Convention ended exactly on the August 20, 2020 deadline.
In remedy, the RNC submitted a provisional certification to the Alabama Secretary of State. Separately, Alabama lawmakers passed legislation to ensure a one-time adjustment would “accommodate the dates of the 2020 Republican National Convention,” according to the text of the bill.
That same year, the DNC submitted a provisional certification on August 12, 2020 — which the Alabama Democratic Party provided as a final certification to the Alabama Secretary of State.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump appeared on the November 2020 general election ballot in Alabama alongside VP running mates as elected at their respective conventions.
Two decades prior, the DNC Convention missed Alabama’s certification deadline in 2000, and candidates remained on the ballot. The state’s certification deadline was August 5, 2000. The DNC Convention ended August 17, 2000. Al Gore and Joe Lieberman appeared on the November ballot.
Secretary of State Wes Allen, a member of the Alabama House in 2020, voted in favor of the one-time solution to bring state deadlines into alignment with the RNC Convention specifically. Now as Alabama’s top election official, Allen is issuing guidance to Democratic Party leaders with a strict posture — particularly in the absence of similar legislation to remedy the legal timeline inconsistency in the 2024 election.
The RNC Convention is scheduled to conclude July 18, 2024, well in advance of Alabama’s August 15, 2024 certification deadline.
The Alabama Legislature concluded Day 20 of the 2024 legislative session upon adjournment Tuesday. With less than ten days remaining of the 30 days provided for a regular session, no state lawmaker has introduced legislation to address the looming deadline.
Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270
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