NH officials reject bid to disqualify Trump from ballot – Times Tribune of Corbin
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Updated: October 8, 2023 @ 12:49 am
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire voters will see former President Donald Trump’s name on the ballot during the state’s primary election, as long as he properly files his paperwork.
That’s the message New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Secretary of State David Scanlan sent in separate notices last month.
Legal challenges have been filed in Minnesota, Colorado and New Hampshire, claiming that states can refuse to put Trump’s name on upcoming ballots for the presidential primary election because of allegations surrounding his actions on January 6, 2021.
A post-Civil War provision of the 14th Amendment says any American official who takes an oath to uphold the US Constitution is disqualified from holding future office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or have “given aid or comfort” to insurrectionists.
In New Hampshire, John Anthony Castro, a 2024 Republican primary candidate and tax consultant, filed a lawsuit in August alleging Trump provided aid and assistance in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and these actions disqualify him from seeking public office.
New Hampshire state law requires the Secretary of State to put a candidate’s name on the ballot as long as he or she filed in a timely manner, signed under oath and paid the state’s required filing fee of $1,000, Formella said in a letter to Scanlan’s office, as well as the Ballot Law Commission’s office.
The secretary of state does not have discretion to withhold a candidate’s name if the individual has not been convicted or found guilty of the crimes specified in the 14th amendment, he wrote.
Although Trump was indicted for charges, including those related to the 2020 presidential election, he has yet to be convicted on any.
Trump was acquitted of inciting an insurrection in an impeachment process that was conducted after Jan. 6, 2021.
Formella’s guidance does not address what New Hampshire should do if a candidate is convicted or adjudicated guilty by a jury.
In a separate statement on the 14th Amendment, Scanlan said if a candidate submits his or her paperwork correctly, their name must go on the ballot.
“There is no mention in New Hampshire state statute that a candidate in a New Hampshire Presidential Primary can be disqualified using the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution referencing insurrection or rebellion,” Scanlan said. “New Hampshire has a proud tradition of welcoming all qualified candidates participating in a presidential primary, and that will continue here.”
He went on to say trying to get individual states to rule separately on the 14th Amendment does not make sense.
“In a situation where some states permit a name to appear on the ballot and other states disqualify it, chaos, confusion, anger and frustration will be the result,” Scanlan said.
“Either a Fourteenth Amendment disqualification applies across the board, or it does not,” Scanlan said, maintaining that the Supreme Court is the only authority that could make a nationwide determination on the disqualification lawsuits that have been filed.
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First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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