COLUMBUS – Today, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced the certification of candidates for the 2020 Ohio Presidential Primary. 

The following Democratic candidates are certified to appear on the March 17, 2020 primary ballot:

Michael Bennet Joseph R. Biden Michael Bloomberg Cory Booker Pete Buttigieg Tulsi Gabbard Amy Klobuchar Deval Patrick Bernie Sanders Tom Steyer Elizabeth Warren

The following Democratic candidate is certified to receive write-in votes on the March 17, 2020 primary ballot:

Andrew Yang

The following Republican candidate is certified to appear on the March 17, 2020 primary ballot:

Donald J. Trump

Candidates who filed and did not meet the necessary requirements to appear on the ballot:

Andrew Yang On January 6, 2020, Mr. James Moore withdrew his declaration of candidacy as a delegate-at-large for Mr. Yang to the 2020 Democratic Party National Convention. As had been previously reported, Mr. Yang’s petitions failed to comply with R.C. 3513.09 which the Supreme Court has held requires strict compliance. Also, on January 6, 2020, Mr. Yang filed declarations of intent to be write-in candidates and declaration of candidacies for Mary Jo Kilroy and Holly Polling as delegates-at-large for Mr. Yang with the Secretary of State’s office.

From a unanimous Ohio Supreme Court opinion: “Relator filed only one declaration of candidacy and petition paper, attaching to it three additional petition papers that did not contain a declaration of candidacy. Relator argues in favor of construing the four petition papers to be a single, "separate petition paper" under R.C. 3513.09. However, such a construction, although possible, would permit the evils that R.C. 3513.09 seems clearly intended to prevent: (1) lack of clear notice to signers, and (2) creation of petitions which could be used for some candidacy other than that intended by the signers.” State ex rel. Wilson v. Hisrich, 69 Ohio St. 3d 13, 15 (1994) (Per Curiam).

John Delaney Olivia Hamilton filed as a delegate-at-large for Mr. Delaney. The candidate filed the required originals of Form 2-N, 2-R, and 2-S. However, the candidate failed to comply with R.C. 3513.09, which requires that each part-petition include a copy of the Declaration of Candidacy. The declaration of candidacy must be included in order to give adequate notice of the candidate’s identity to electors and to prevent the petition from being used for a candidacy other than the one intended by the signers.

Because the Declaration of Candidacy was not included in the majority of the delegate’s part-petitions, most of the delegate’s part-petitions were invalid, leaving the delegate with fewer than 1,000 valid signatures from qualified electors.

From a unanimous Ohio Supreme Court opinion: “Relator filed only one declaration of candidacy and petition paper, attaching to it three additional petition papers that did not contain a declaration of candidacy. Relator argues in favor of construing the four petition papers to be a single, "separate petition paper" under R.C. 3513.09. However, such a construction, although possible, would permit the evils that R.C. 3513.09 seems clearly intended to prevent: (1) lack of clear notice to signers, and (2) creation of petitions which could be used for some candidacy other than that intended by the signers.” State ex rel. Wilson v. Hisrich, 69 Ohio St. 3d 13, 15 (1994) (Per Curiam).

Bill Weld Bill Weld’s filing lacks both a list of authorized delegates as well as the consent for any delegates to use his name.

Regarding the first issue, on Form 1-C, the candidate states, “I, Bill Weld, a candidate for President of the United States, state the following is my list of approved delegates and alternates who have been selected in accordance with the rules of the Republican Party State Central Committee.” It also states, “I hereby authorize and give my consent to the following persons to use my name in their Declarations of Candidacy as delegates and alternates to the Republican National Convention as their First Choice for the Presidency…”. However, the filing contains no list of approved delegates and alternates that must be part of 1-C. A list of candidates for district delegate and alternate to the national convention is specifically required by R.C. 3513.121, and sheets for the list were provided on pages 2 to 4 of Form 1-C, which were not included in the filing. Omitting the list of delegates, which are three of the four pages in Form 1-C, is a substantial failure to comply with the law.

Secondly, Bill Weld did not file the required form (either Form 2-S or 2-U) to indicate his consent for delegates to name him as second choice for the presidency. The candidate’s written consent is required by both the Ohio Constitution and the Ohio Revised Code. Bill Weld’s failure to include the Form 2-S or 2-U means the delegate candidates do not have his written consent or authority to name him second choice for the presidency.

Today, Directive 2020-01 (PDF) will be transmitted to Ohio’s boards of elections which will provide the official list of candidates that will appear on the presidential primary ballot.

Key Dates of 2020:

January 31: Military and Overseas voting begins

February 18: Deadline for Ohioans to register to vote in order to vote in the presidential primary

February 19: Early voting begins in Ohio

March 17: Presidential primary election day

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