Three Democrats will appear on the Ohio ballot in March, but not former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.
Instead Ohio voters will choose between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente, the Ohio Secretary of State’s office confirmed Thursday.
O’Malley fell 228 signatures shy of the 1,000 he needed from verified voters, said spokesman Joshua Eck.
It’s the latest sad showing for the former two-term governor, who had only one person show up to one of his campaign stops in Iowa earlier this week. And that sole voter walked away still undecided.
The Associated Press first reported Thursday that O’Malley would not make the Ohio ballot.
“Our campaign filed nearly 1,200 signatures for the Ohio ballot. While this news is disappointing, we are exploring all of our options, and Governor O’Malley will campaign vigorously in Ohio. To date, he is already on the ballot in 18 other states,” O’Malley spokeswoman Haley Morris said Thursday.
De La Fuente is a developer from San Diego.