Kelley says we will do everything we can to make sure that President Biden is on the ballot in Alabama

On Thursday, the Alabama Gazette spoke with Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Randy Kelley on Thursday about the possibility that President Joseph R. Biden (D) will not be on Alabama's November 5 general election ballot. Kelley says that he and the Alabama Democratic Party will do everything possible to make sure that the President is given ballot access in Alabama.

"I wanted to make sure that the White House knew about this," Kelley told the Gazette. "They released a statement saying that they will be on the ballot in all fifty states."

Chairman Kelley says that he is disturbed by some of the election laws that are being passed by the Alabama Legislature.

"I am very disturbed about some of the bills that the current administration, the Legislature and the Governor, are passing," Kelley said. They are very vindictive. "I have also reached out to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Jamie Henderson. I have not heard back from him yet."

Kelley assured Democrats that the Alabama Democratic Party are doing everything possible to prevent President Biden from being denied ballot access.

"We are doing everything possible to make sure that the President and the Vice President are on the ballot this November."

On Wednesday, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen announced that he has notified the Alabama Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee via letter that they must provide a certification of nomination for President and Vice President of the United States no later than August 15, 2024, to appear on Alabama's general election ballot. This deadline is a problem because the Democratic National Convention does not even begin until August 19.

"It has recently come to my attention that the Democratic National Convention is currently scheduled to convene on August 19, 2024, which is after the State of Alabama's statutory deadline for political parties to provide a certificate of nomination for President and Vice President," Allen wrote in a letter to Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Randy Kelley. "If this Office has not received a valid certificate of nomination from the Democratic Party following its convention by the statutory deadline, I will be unable to certify the names of the Democratic Party's candidates for President and Vice President for ballot preparation for the 2024 general election."

A copy of the letter was also sent to Jaime R. Henderson, Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Allen's letter cites Alabama code section 17-14-31(b), which states that the parties must certify their candidates "no later than the 82nd day preceding the day fixed for the election." Because the general election for President and Vice President will be held nationwide on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the 82nd preceding day would be August 15, 2024, four days before the National Democratic Convention is scheduled to begin.

The Office of Secretary of State has published the certification deadline on the official Secretary of State website at http://sos.alabama.gov/ since June, 2023.

The National Republican Convention will convene on July 15, 2024 and is expected to conclude on July 18, nearly a month before certifications are due to be submitted to Allen's office.

"If those certificates are not in my office on time, there will be no certification and no appearance on the Alabama general election ballot in accordance with sections 17-13-22 and 17-14-31(a) of the Code of Alabama," Allen continued. "With this letter, we are providing ample notification to the leadership of the Democratic Party at the state and national level that the burden of providing those certifications by the statutorily set deadline is a requirement that they must meet."

Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl said that this is issue is hard for him to comprehend.

"It is hard to comprehend how the Biden campaign and DNC allowed themselves to miss this critical deadline. Despite ample time and resources at their disposal, they have demonstrated a shocking disregard for Alabama's electoral process and the voters of our state," said Wahl in a statement. "Alabama's presidential certification laws are not new, and these types of deadlines are a normal part of running a presidential campaign. Four years ago, the Alabama Republican Party and RNC avoided this problem by working proactively to ensure our nominee would not be left off the ballot before it became a concern. To make this matter worse for the Biden campaign, similar oversights have been reported in other states."

"It is pretty clear that the Democrat Party and Joe Biden's campaign either can't understand basic election rules, or they don't care about the voters of Alabama. Either way this represents a massive political mistake, and raises an important question," Wahl continued. "If Joe Biden and his team cannot fulfill the basic requirements of running a presidential campaign, how can we trust them to competently manage the affairs of our nation? No wonder the boarder is a disaster, our economy is in shambles, and American foreign policy is the laughingstock of the free world. This is just one more area that highlights the need for a change in the White House."

Wes Allen is Alabama's 54th Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is Alabama's Chief Elections Official.

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