No matter who replaces President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party nominee for president, the new candidate’s name will likely appear on Georgia ballots this fall.
Political parties decide on their presidential candidates in Georgia, and the state Democratic Party can choose a different candidate at any time before ballots are created around Sept. 13, according to the secretary of state’s office.
That deadline will arrive three weeks after the Democratic presidential nominee is expected to be finalized at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which will be held from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22.
“The nomination process is strictly a party thing. The secretary of state’s office has no say, no authority to have a say, no legal input whatsoever into either party’s nomination process,” said Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office.
Biden won Georgia’s presidential primary in March with 95% of the vote against two other candidates. Republican Donald Trump won his party’s primary with 84% of the vote against 10 candidates.
Georgia laws don’t describe a procedure or deadline for replacing a presidential candidate on the ballot.
In presidential elections, voters technically select a slate of party electors who officially select the president through the Electoral College. Even if ballots listed an outdated candidate’s name, the party’s electors would remain the same, and they could cast Georgia’s votes for a different candidate.
The new presidential nominee should appear on ballots in every state, said Marc Elias, a Democratic voting rights attorney.
“Let me be clear: The Democratic nominee for president will be on all 50 state ballots. There is no basis for any legal challenge. Period,” Elias wrote on X on Sunday.
Absentee ballots will begin to be mailed to voters Oct. 7, which is 29 days before Election Day. Then three weeks of in-person early voting begins Oct. 15, and Election Day is Nov. 5.
