The New York State Board of Elections voted Tuesday to put former President Donald Trump on the state’s presidential primary ballot — just two days before the Supreme Court will hear a high-stakes challenge to the GOP frontrunner’s ballot qualifications.
Two Republican commissioners on the board of elections — Anthony Casale and Peter Kosinski — rejected arguments that Trump, 77, should be disqualified for his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
The bipartisan board has four members, however, both Republicans have authority over the qualifications of GOP candidates.
Casale said Tuesday that the board has received letters from voters insisting the former commander-in-chief should be declared ineligible but that its decision is limited by state rules on national eminence and candidate campaign finance.
“No matter what the critics say, our authority covers those two criteria. We don’t feel we have the authority to go beyond that,” Casale said after the meeting.
The New York State Board of Elections voted to put Donald Trump on the primary ballot on Tuesday. AFP via Getty Images
“They have to go to court to do that. We do not do that at the Election Board.”
Meanwhile, Democratic State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal quickly filed a protest with the board of elections and vowed to overturn the decision, citing the 14th Amendment’s bar against officeholders who have “engaged in rebellion or insurrection,” which was enacted after Civil. War.
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Two Republican commissioners on the ballot rejected arguments that the former President should be disqualified. AFP via Getty Images
“The Election Commission can still defend the United States Constitution by upholding our objection and disqualifying Donald Trump from the presidential ballot,” Hoylman-Sigal said.
“As the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado has already legally ruled, Donald Trump is disqualified from holding any elected office in the United States for engaging in and inciting a violent rebellion in which he attempted to override the will of the American people while taking several lives. ,” continued the member of parliament.
“If the Board of Elections fails to do their job and decides Trump is ineligible, I will see them in court.”
Hoylman-Sigal and others previously sent a letter to the Empire State Board of Elections in December claiming the former president should be barred from the state’s ballot because of his role in the rebellion.
Donald Trump takes his vote at a polling station in 2016. AFP via Getty Images
Hoylman-Sigal has retained attorneys Roger Bernstein and Jerry Goldfeder to represent her and other anti-Trump opponents.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court will decide whether Trump can be disqualified from the state’s presidential ballot after the Colorado Supreme Court found he violated the so-called “Rebellion Clause” of the Constitution.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
