A lot of talk over the past week has been about the possibility of the GOP’s pet creation, Trump, pulling out of the race (or being forced out). In some states, it might already be too late to change.
From Ballotpedia, I give you some dates required by some states by which the parties must certify their candidates for office. Here are the ones that have already passed:
| JULY 22 |
| JULY 26 |
| AUGUST 5 |
| AUGUST 5 |
* Not a statutory deadline, but North Carolina requests that candidates be submitted by the first Friday in August.
Ponder that list for a moment.
And now for the deadlines that occur in the next two weeks (by Friday, August 19th). In order to meet these deadlines, the RNC would have to come up with a candidate in the next 12 days — a problematic occurrence at best.
| AUGUST 9 |
| AUGUST 10 |
| AUGUST 16 |
| AUGUST 19 |
AUGUST 19 |
Imagine a path to victory for a candidate that didn’t show up on the ballot in 8 or 9 states, especially a battleground state like Ohio.
Finally, these are the states that require candidates to be submitted by the end of August (Wednesday, August 31 — 24 days left, not counting today, of course):
| AUGUST 20 |
| AUGUST 20 |
| AUGUST 24 |
| AUGUST 26 |
| AUGUST 29 |
| AUGUST 30 |
| AUGUST 30 |
| AUGUST 30 |
| AUGUST 31 |
Finally, just to add to the pressure, I’ll note that Alaska and Idaho have September 1 deadlines. Florida has a September 1 deadline, but the statute only applies to Presidential electors, not to the candidates themselves.
There are many states where the deadlines are unclear, so potential exists for a lot of confusion.
So, 17 states by the end of the month, 19 if you add in September 1st deadlines (I’m not counting North Carolina in my math there, since North Carolina’s isn’t a hard statutory deadline).
Make of this what you will.