Democrats plan to nominate Biden virtually to avoid missing Ohio's ballot deadline

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Democratic National Committee plans to hold a "virtual roll call" to nominate President Joe Biden before the party's August convention — a tactic meant to spare Biden the increasing danger of being left off Ohio's general election ballot.

Biden's campaign and DNC announced the move Tuesday as the state Legislature here opened a special session ordered by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to resolve the issue.

The Democratic convention — where the party traditionally nominates its candidates for president and vice president — is scheduled after Ohio’s Aug. 7 deadline for certifying candidates. Ohio GOP lawmakers, who hold supermajorities in the state House and Senate, have been reluctant to pass a bill relaxing that deadline for Biden without a vote on unrelated campaign finance legislation that Democrats have described as a "poison pill."

Democrats "will land this plane on our own," DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement. "Through a virtual roll call, we will ensure that Republicans can't chip away at our democracy through incompetence or partisan tricks and that Ohioans can exercise their right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice."

The DNC’s rules and bylaws committee is expected to vote June 4 on a resolution to allow for the virtual roll call. DNC members will vote on the resolution in the following weeks and, once adopted, a virtual nomination process can proceed. Party officials are likening the approach to the virtual convention held in 2020 during the pandemic.

The Biden campaign and DNC had for weeks resisted going forward with such plans. Ohio's certification deadlines have come before both parties' nominating conventions in the past, and in those instances, both