“This gives the flexibility so the secretary of state can follow the law,” said House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill.
The GOP speaker, embroiled by accusations of working too favorably with the House Democrats who voted him into power, said he hopes the fix will “take care of that issue without much fanfare.”
Under the fix, the firm deadline would be 74 days. This year, Biden is expected to be certified on Aug. 22 at the latest, which is 75 days before the Nov. 5 general election.
The fix was amended into a previously-passed Senate bill and passed unanimously and hurriedly by a House Government Oversight Committee Tuesday. The timing allows the House to vote on the bill during its session on Wednesday and pass the bill back over to the Senate for a concurrence vote.
House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said she’s been encouraged by the bipartisan action to rectify the situation but noted that she’s not celebrating just yet.
“Around here, every day, you always expect that anything can happen. So, until it’s completely done, you know, we’ll keep working and having the conversation,” Russo said when this news organization asked if she expected any push back.
The bill will need to pass both the House and the Senate with a simple majority. Leaders for the GOP super majorities in both chambers have been receptive to the fix, but the House has a splintered GOP caucus and a rising animosity between Stephens and a sizable cohort of his peers.
It’s the first publicly proposed solution after over a month of mostly behind-closed-doors deliberations, which was sparked by Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s letter informing the Biden campaign and the Ohio Democratic Party that his official nomination would be too late to comply with Ohio law.
Ohio has had to make legislative fixes on this issue several times — including amenable solutions for both parties as recently as 2020 — but the fixes had been narrow and have thus left the state slightly reeling this time around.
Stephens and Russo both said they hoped this year’s solution will limit problems in the future.
“I think everyone agreed that this is good for democracy,” Russo said. “We want people to have full access to the ballot, and that’s good for both parties. It was just a matter of some of the details and hearing those out.”
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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