Yang, Delaney and Weld Fail to Qualify for Ohio Primary Election Ballots

Two Democrats and one Republican have failed to qualify for certification to appear on ballots in the 2020 Ohio presidential primary election.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Tuesday that entrepreneur Andrew Yang and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney both failed to make the ballot for the Democratic primary, though Yang has been certified to receive write-in votes.

Meanwhile former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld has been punted from the Republican presidential primary ballot after the secretary of state’s office determined his filing lacked both a list of authorized delegates as well as the consent for any delegates to use his name.

The date of both primaries is March 17.

As it stands now, 11 Democrats will appear on the Ohio Democratic primary ballot. These are Sen. Michael Bennet, former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Cory Booker, South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Bernie Sanders, businessman Tom Steyer, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

In regard to Andrew Yang, LaRose explained that on Monday, an individual who had previously declared his candidacy as a delegate-at-large for Yang for the 2020 Democratic National Convention, withdrew his candidacy.

“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,” LaRose said. “Also, on January 6, 2020, Yang filed declarations of intent to be a write-in candidate and declaration of candidacies for Mary Jo Kilroy and Holly Polling as delegates-at-large for Yang with the Secretary of State’s office.”

The Ohio Supreme Court ruling to which LaRose referred was in the 1994 case of State ex rel. Wilson v. Hisrich.

In regard to former Rep. Delaney, LaRose said the candidate properly completed two forms that needed to be submitted for a woman who was to be his delegate-at-large at the convention, but failed to include a declaration of candidate with each portion of her petition.

“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,” he said.

In the case of Bill Weld, LaRose said the candidate completed the form stating “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.”

But he failed to then attach a list of approved delegates and alternates as required by law.

“Omitting the list of delegates, which is three of the four pages in Form 1-C, is a substantial failure to comply with the law,” LaRose said.

Secondly, Weld did not file the required form 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,” LaRose said.