Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed the legislation into law after the Republican-controlled state House cleared it earlier Thursday in a 93-0 vote.
Gov. Kay Ivey delivers her State of the State address in Montgomery, Ala., in March 2023.Julie Bennett / AP file
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday signed into law legislation to ensure that President Joe Biden will appear on the state’s November ballot, a spokesperson confirmed.
The Republican-controlled state House cleared the legislation earlier in the day in a 93-0 vote. The state Senate, which is also controlled by the GOP, passed it last month.
Charles Lutvak, spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in a statement to NBC News that Alabama “with full Republican support” is “already taking action to ensure that voters can exercise their right to vote for the candidate of their choice in November.”
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” Lutvak said. “Election after election, states across the country have acted in line with the bipartisan consensus and taken the necessary steps to ensure the presidential nominees from both parties will be on the ballot. And this election is no different.”
Republican secretaries of state in Alabama and Ohio had warned that Biden might not appear on the state’s general election ballots because the Democratic Party’s convention in August is scheduled to occur after state ballot deadlines.
Under the legislation signed Thursday, Alabama’s certification deadline would be delayed from 82 days before the general election to 74 days, a change that would accommodate the timing of Democrats’ nominating convention in Chicago.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said in a letter last month that state law requires the state and national Democratic parties to supply his office with a certificate of nomination for president and vice president by Aug. 15, four days before the Democratic convention is set to begin on Aug. 19.
In April, Frank LaRose told Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters in a letter that the oversight can be rectified in two ways: either by the Democratic Party’s moving up its nominating convention or by getting the Legislature to “create an exemption to this statutory requirement” by May 9 in accordance with state law.
The Biden campaign last month pointed to state officials’ ability to “grant provisional ballot access certification prior to the conclusion of presidential nominating conventions,” citing efforts in 2020 to allow provisional certifications in several states.
Democratic state Sen. Merika Coleman, who sponsored the bill, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.
Alabama faced a similar issue in 2020, when state Republicans voted to ease the deadline to ensure President Donald Trump appeared on its ballot.
