Mass. commission holds hearing on Trump's place on primary ballot – WCVB Boston
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The State Ballot Law Commission has rejected a voter attempt to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot in Massachusetts, saying it “does not have jurisdiction over the matters presented.”
The decision was handed down by the court on Monday afternoon, 24 hours before the New Hampshire primary was set to take place.
The State Ballot Law Commission held a hearing last week that lasted about 20 minutes because the three members of the commission said they must first decide whether they have the power to kick a candidate off the ballot.
“As to whether or not the objection relates to matter within the jurisdiction of the commission,” Commission Chairman Francis Crimmons said.
A lawyer for the nine voters who’ve filed the objection said the commission does indeed have the power to determine if Trump should be on the ballot. But a lawyer for Trump said they do not, at least not at this point. He said the state Republican Party can put anyone it wants on the primary ballot.
“Our position is when the state committee places you on the ballot, the Secretary of State is required to put you on the ballot, regardless of qualification,” Trump attorney Marc Salinas said.
“That is legally incorrect. As I explained today, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has made clear that only candidates who are eligible to serve in office may be placed on a Massachusetts ballot,” Shannon Liss-Riordan, the voters’ attorney, said.
The voters’ attorneys argued that Trump is disqualified under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment because, they say, he committed insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
“In Massachusetts, although the names of presidential candidates appear on the ballot in accordance with the provisions of section 43 of chapter 54 of the general laws, they are simply placeholders for those actually being elected,” the decision said. “The presidential electors who have pledged to a particular candidate.”
“I applaud the Massachusetts Ballot Commission for its decision to allow voters to choose their nominee for president,” a written statement from the MassGOP said. “The ill-conceived effort to remove a presidential candidate from the ballot would have undercut our system of democracy.”
“We are preparing our appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court,” a written statement from Liss-Riordan said Monday. “Today’s decision from the state ballot commission was not a ruling on the merits. We believe the commission erred in its interpretation of Massachusetts election laws when it held it did not have jurisdiction to rule on this dispute.”
Two other states — Colorado and Maine — have already disqualified Trump from their primaries on similar grounds. The U.S. Supreme Court said it will hear oral arguments in the Colorado case on Feb. 8.
Massachusetts’ presidential primary is scheduled for March 5.
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