Biden might not make Ohio's general election ballot

It appears that President Joe Biden might not be on Ohio's general election ballot in the 2020 election - despite the fact that he will almost certainly be the Democratic Party's nominee. 

ABC News reports that this was suggested by Ohio's secretary of state - Frank LaRose - in a letter that he recently sent to Liz Walters - the Chairwoman of the state's Democratic Party.

Per the outlet:

In the letter, obtained by ABC News, legal counsel for Secretary of State Frank LaRose sought clarification for "an apparent conflict in Ohio law" between the Democratic National Committee's nominating process and the deadline by which the party's presidential nominee must be certified to the Secretary of State's office.

It is this deadline that could prevent Biden from making the state's general election ballot.

Here's the problem:

It is that the Democratic National Convention is not scheduled to convene until after Ohio's deadline to certify a presidential candidate.

According to Fox News, LaRose, in the letter, explained to Walters, "The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to convene on August 19, 2024, which occurs more than a week after the August 7 deadline to certify a presidential candidate to the office."

LaRose went on to suggest to Walters that there are two possible solutions to the problem.

"I am left to conclude that the Democratic National Committee must either move up its nominating convention or the Ohio General Assembly must act by May 9, 2024 (90 days prior to a new law's effective date) to create an exception to this statutory requirement," LaRose wrote.

At the time of this writing, it is unclear how the situation is going to play out.

Biden, nonetheless, remains "confident"

Biden's campaign team has released a statement in which it has said that it is "monitoring the situation in Ohio" and that it is "confident that Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states."

It is worth pointing out that, although Ohio used to be a swing state, it has gone to the right in recent years.

Trump, in fact, won the state of Ohio in the past two presidential elections. He won the state in 2020 by a margin of over 475,000 votes, and he won the state in 2016 - against Hillary Clinton - by about 500,000 votes.

So, it is unlikely that Biden has any real chance of winning Ohio - especially considering that Trump's popularity only appears to have grown since the last election.

Nationally, current polls suggest that Biden and Trump are neck and neck.