Efforts to kick former President Donald Trump off the ballot in GOP presidential primaries next year are being met with little or no support so far among top state election officials — whether Republican or Democrat.
Anti-Trump lawmakers and activists have cited the 14th Amendment, which says that a person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution” can not hold public office in the United States, as justification for keeping the former president off the ballot.
But New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan announced Wednesday that he wouldn’t use the amendment to keep Mr. Trump from 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 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution referencing insurrection and rebellion,” Mr. Scanlan, a Republican, said. “Similarly, there is nothing in the 14th Amendment that suggests that exercising the provisions of that amendment should take place during the delegate selection process held by the different states.”
Mr. Scanlan’s office was flooded with phone calls last month over the issue after conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk told listeners of his show that Mr. Trump would be kept off the primary ballot in the New England state.
The talk show host was referring to Bryant Messner, a Republican whom Mr. Trump endorsed when he ran for Senate in New Hampshire in 2020, having a meeting with Mr. Scanlan to discuss challenging Mr. Trump’s qualifications.
Mr. Scanlan said Wednesday that as long as Mr. Trump “properly submits [his] paperwork during the filing period and pays the required fee, [his] name will appear on the ballot.”
Michigan’s Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson wrote in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post Wednesday that the view that secretaries of state should keep Mr. Trump off the ballot is “misguided.”
“Whether Trump is eligible to run for president again is a decision not for secretaries of state but for the courts.”
She wrote that it’s up to the courts to decide how much of a role Mr. Trump played in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and that there is yet to be a “precise legal definition” of the 14th Amendment’s meaning.
“In Michigan, unless a court rules otherwise, Donald Trump will be on the ballot for our Republican presidential primary on Feb. 27, 2024.”
A lawsuit was filed last week in Colorado by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a D.C.-based ethics and accountability watchdog organization, to keep the former president off the 2024 ballot in Colorado.
“I think it’s a good thing that a court is weighing in, because this is truly an unprecedented situation,” Jena Griswold, Colorado secretary of state, told PBS Wednesday.
Although the Democrat didn’t outright say Mr. Trump would be on her state’s ballot, she did emphasize that her job is to “follow the law and uphold the Constitution.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.