After dawdling and playing absurd political games for long enough, Ohio lawmakers seemed Tuesday to have finally allowed the Democratic National Committee to get out ahead of them on the issue of whether President Joe Biden will be on the November ballot.

The DNC announced plans to formally make Biden the party’s nominee with a virtual roll call ahead of the party’s convention in August. That June 4 vote will give plenty of time to fall in line with Ohio’s rules about the timing of nominations and placement on the ballot.

But even as the DNC was making its announcements, Ohio lawmakers were still bickering about the fix they should have implemented weeks ago. Rather than quickly and cleanly pass an exception that would have allowed the DNC to hold its convention as scheduled and get its presumed nominee on the ballot, Buckeye State lawmakers have reduced themselves to toddler-level tactics for failing to do their jobs.

It’s a bit like watching squabbling siblings figure out how to sabotage the chore distribution process.

In this case, they keep adding unrelated items to the bill, such as the Senate version’s attachment of a prohibition on foreign nationals donating to Ohio ballot campaigns. They’re even pretending they didn’t understand Gov. Mike DeWine’s proclamation, with the Senate scheduling a single day of activity Tuesday and the House planning on two days of activities with a vote planned for Thursday.

DNC officials can’t be blamed for taking the matter out of the hands of the kinds of people who drop a dish or two after having been assigned the chore, so they will not be asked again.

But lawmakers must bear in mind this infantile display could get them exactly what they’re asking for. If they botch the simplest of tasks this badly, they can be assured, voters won’t ask them to do it again.

editorial@vindy.com