Posts falsely claim US ballot deadlines prevent new Democratic nominee
- Published on July 23, 2024 at 18:55
- 6 min read
- By Daniel FUNKE, AFP USA
Copyright © AFP 2017-2024. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"States where Biden's name can't be removed and no one can be added," says text in a July 21 Instagram post. "That's over 130 Electoral College votes in the toilet."
The image shows a supposed screenshot of an X post from Grok, an AI chatbot headed by platform owner Elon Musk. AFP could not verify the post's authenticity.
"The ballot deadline has passed for several states for the 2024 election," it says. "Some of the states include: 1. Alabama, 2. Indiana, 3. Michigan, 4. Minnesota, 5. New Mexico, 6. Ohio, 7. Pennsylvania, 8. Texas, 9. Washington."
The same claim circulated elsewhere on X, Instagram and Facebook after Biden exited the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Biden, 81, said he was acting in the "best interest of my party and the country" by bowing to weeks of pressure after a June 2024 debate against Donald Trump stoked worries about his age and mental fitness (archived here).
While the move throws Democrats into fresh turmoil ahead of the November 5 election, it could also reenergize the demoralized party. Harris swiftly confirmed her goal to become America's first woman president and to "defeat Donald Trump."
Several experts told AFP there are no legal roadblocks that prevent her from doing so, contrary to the rumors percolating online.
"It's totally false, said Derek Muller, a law professor specializing in election administration at the University of Notre Dame (archived here), in a July 22 email. "Ballot access deadlines differ for different races. For presidential candidates of major political parties, the deadlines begin in August."
He said that is because a presidential candidate "is not a 'nominee' until the convention," which for Democrats will occur August 19-22 in Chicago (archived here). Other experts agreed.
"The state ballots have no reason to be printed yet because even if Biden had stayed in, he had not formally been nominated," said Jeremy Paul, a law professor at Northeastern University (archived here).
"I just don't see why Kamala Harris can't be on the ballot in all 50 states."
'Not the official nominee'
In US primary elections, states apportion a certain number of delegates to victorious presidential candidates. Those delegates later choose their party's nominee at a convention prior to the general election.
Even though Biden won the most delegates in the Democratic primaries, Joshua Douglas of the University of Kentucky (archived here) said he "was not the official nominee."
"The nominee is not determined until the convention when the delegates nominate someone," the law professor told AFP in a July 22 email. "The claims that there is some kind of legal reason Biden must be on the ballot are simply wrong. Every state puts on the ballot the person who the parties nominate at their convention."
With the primary process already completed, the Democratic Party has two options for naming a presidential candidate: a virtual roll call vote or an open convention.
The Democratic National Committee has said it will opt for the former option, holding an online poll by August 7 for delegates to cast their ballots for the party's presidential nominee. Biden's nearly 3,900 delegates are not required to back Harris, but more than half have already pledged to support her after she secured the president's endorsement and raised a record $81 million in one day.
The Democratic Party has not had an open convention since 1968, when then-president Lyndon B Johnson announced he would not seek reelection amid growing political divisions over the Vietnam War.
"Since neither the Democratic National Convention nor the virtual roll call the DNC has been planning has occurred yet, the Democratic Party does not currently have an official presidential candidate," said Michael Morley, a law professor at Florida State University (archived here), in a July 22 email.
"Accordingly, Joe Biden had not yet been certified to any states as the Democratic Party's nominee, and he therefore does not need to be 'replaced' on any general election ballots. State laws and deadlines concerning 'replacement' of candidates are inapplicable here."
Ballot deadlines
AFP contacted election officials in each state mentioned in the post spreading online. All refuted claims that their deadlines for appearing on the general election ballot have already passed.
In Alabama, "major parties have until August 23, 2024 to certify to the secretary of state's office their presidential and vice presidential candidates," said Director of Communications Laney Rawls in a July 22 email.
The deadline in Ohio is even later.
"The original deadline was August 7, which is obviously before the DNC," said Ben Kindel, a spokesman for the secretary of state. "The Ohio legislature through emergency session passed an extension of that deadline to September 1."
The Pennsylvania secretary of state's office also told AFP the claims circulating online "are false."
"Under the Pennsylvania Election Code, the presidential and vice presidential nominees selected at the Democratic National Convention will appear on the general election ballot as the Democratic candidates for president and vice president," said Press Secretary Matt Heckel in a July 22 email.
Here are the deadlines for other states mentioned in the posts:
- Indiana: In a press release shared July 22 with AFP, the secretary of state's office said September 10 "is the deadline for the Indiana state party chair of the Democratic Party to certify the names of the party’s candidates for president and vice president" (archived here).
- Michigan: Sam May, press secretary for the secretary of state's office, confirmed in a July 22 email that Democrats must name their nominees by August 26 (archived here).
- Minnesota: "Major political parties have until August 26, 2024 to submit the names of their party's candidates for president and vice-president to our office," said Cassondra Knudson, deputy communications director for the secretary of state, in a July 23 email (archived here).
- New Mexico: In a press release shared July 22 with AFP, the secretary of state's office said that "as long as they meet the ballot deadline of August 27, 2024, whoever is nominated for president at the upcoming Democratic convention will appear on New Mexico’s general election ballot" (archived here).
- Texas: Alicia Pierce, assistant secretary of state for communications, said in a July 22 email that if a candidate withdraws "before the 74th day before the elections" -- which in this case is August 23 -- "there is an opportunity for the party to replace the nominee" as long as it does so by August 26 (archived here).
- Washington: The Democratic Party has "until the third Tuesday in August (August 20) to file their presidential electors and president and vice president nominations with the Office of the Secretary of State," spokeswoman Jessica Hice told AFP in a July 22 email (archived here).
AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the 2024 US presidential election here.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
