Donald Trump will appear on the ballot in Mass. Republican presidential primary – MassLive.com
Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends the closing arguments in the Trump Organization civil fraud trial in the Manhattan borough of New York, Jan. 11, 2024. Shannon Stapleton/Pool Photo via AP, File)AP
Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to reflect the nuance that the Massachusetts Ballot Commission’s decision to dismiss the challenges does not ensure that former President Donald Trump’s name will appear on the primary ballot; it will be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if he will be included.
Former President Donald Trump may be allowed to appear on the ballot in the Massachusetts Republican primary this year despite multiple lawsuits trying to keep him off of it after a state commission determined it does not have jurisdiction over the issue.
The complaints sought to remove Trump’s name from the ballot due to the events of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, citing a section of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution that prohibits the election of anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”
“Donald Trump violated his oath of office and incited a violent insurrection that attacked the U.S. Capitol, threatened the assassination of the Vice President and congressional leaders, and disrupted the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation’s history,” Ron Fein, legal director at Free Speech For People, one of the groups which filed a suit earlier this month, said at the time.
However, the Massachusetts Ballot Law Commission announced in its decision Monday that it had limited jurisdiction over challenges to presidential candidates, and therefore dismissed the objections.
The U.S. Supreme Court said earlier this month it will decide whether Trump can be kept off the ballot in response to Trump’s appeal of Colorado’s move to bar him from the election.
John Bonifaz, president of Free Speech for People, said the group intends to appeal the Massachusetts ruling.
Several states have had similar challenges to Trump’s inclusion on the ballot, including Maine, Colorado and Minnesota. On Dec. 28, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced that the former president would not be placed on the ballot, a decision which Trump has appealed.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin has said his office will leave the matter to the Supreme Court so as not to deprive voters of their right to cast a vote.
The decision should lie with the voters, according to the Mass. GOP.
“I applaud the Massachusetts Ballot Commission for its decision to allow voters to choose their nominee for president,” Amy Carnevale, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said in a press release emailed Monday night. “The ill-conceived effort to remove a presidential candidate from the ballot would have undercut our system of democracy. The decision of who Massachusetts should choose as the Republican nominee for President of the United States will now rely squarely with the voters, as it should.”
The Massachusetts presidential primary will be held March 5.
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