On August 15, the Ohio Libertarian Party submitted paperwork with the Secretary of State, to substitute its actual presidential and vice-presidential nominees for the stand-ins who were listed on the party’s independent candidate petition. August 15 is the deadline for that paperwork.

Section 3513.31(F) permits stand-ins for all office, for independent candidate petitions. The Secretary of State’s office has been making the Libertarian Party nervous. First the Secretary of State’s office said it wasn’t sure that substitution is permitted for president and vice-president, even though it was used in Ohio by John Anderson for vice-president in 1980; by the Constitution Party for vice-president in 1996, 2000, and 2004; by the Reform Party for vice-president in 2000; by Ralph Nader for vice-president in 2004; and by the Libertarian Party for both president and vice-president in 1996.

Then the Secretary of State’s office started saying that the substitution paperwork can’t be submitted until after the validity of the petition has been checked, and that this job can’t be done by August 15. But there is no law or regulation that says the paperwork can’t be submitted until after the petition has been checked. This newspaper article says the Secretary of State’s office estimates the signatures will have been checked by August 19.