An attorney for the Democratic Party has notified Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen that the party intends to ask for a provisional certification of the nominations of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris before the party’s convention, and says that is the same method used to accommodate Republicans when their nomination of Donald Trump came after a deadline set in state law in 2020.

Allen said he does not intend to allow a provisional certification.

The letter from attorney Barry Ragsdale to Mike Jones, general counsel for Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, comes in response to Allen’s letter to the state and national Democratic parties on Tuesday. Allen informed the Democrats that his office could not certify their presidential and vice presidential nominees after a deadline set in state law, 82 days before the Nov. 5 election, which falls on Aug. 15. That would mean Biden and Harris would not appear on Alabama ballots.

But Ragsdale wrote in his letter that Allen’s position is contrary to what happened four years ago.

According to Ragsdale, both parties were scheduled to miss the 82-day deadline in 2020. The Legislature passed a bill changing the deadline to 75 days. That accommodated the date of the Democratic convention, which ended on Aug. 20, but not the Republicans’, which ended on Aug. 27, 68 days before the 2020 election.

Ragsdale wrote that the Republican Party requested provisional certification for Trump and Pence on Aug. 20, and the Alabama Republican Party officially certified the nominations to the secretary of state’s office Aug. 27.

“The Secretary of State reasonably accepted the Republican Party’s provisional certification, and, on August 29, 2020, certified that the Republican Party candidates would be on the ballot,” Ragsdale wrote.

John Merrill was secretary of state in 2020. Allen was elected in 2022 and took office last year.

Ragsdale wrote that the Democratic Party would provisionally certify Biden and Harris by Aug. 15, the deadline in the law, and then confirm that after the convention concludes. The convention will be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

Ragsdale wrote that enforcing an 82-day deadline and excluding Biden and Harris from the ballot would violate the constitutional rights of Biden, Harris, and their supporters.

“If strictly enforced, the deadline would prevent one of the two major party presidential candidates from appearing on the general election ballot, an unjust and unconstitutional result,” Ragsdale wrote.

But Allen, in a statement in response to Ragsdale’s letter, said he did not plan to allow provisional certifications.

“On January 16, 2023, I took an oath to uphold Alabama law and that is what I am going to do,” Allen said. “My office will accept all certifications that comply with Alabama code section 17-14-31(b). That statute does not provide for ‘provisional certifications’ or any other exceptions.”

Ragsdale wrote that the 82-day deadline in Alabama went into effect in 2015. He wrote that from 2003 to 2015, the deadline was Sept. 6.

This story will be updated.