The Illinois Board of Election unanimously voted Tuesday that former President Donald Trump can remain on the state ballot, ABC News reported.
The eight-person board opposed a lawsuit brought by a collection of Illinois voters represented by an organization called Free Speech for the People and a group of elections lawyers, according to ABC News. Those initiating the lawsuit reportedly argued that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualified Trump from being on the ballot.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states no person should hold elected office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same [the Constitution of the United States], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
BREAKING REPORT: ⚠️ Illinois State Board of Elections rules unanimously to KEEP PRESIDENT TRUMP on the ballot… pic.twitter.com/gHJS5hJpG9
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) January 30, 2024
The election board said it lacked the authority to decide whether Trump engaged in an insurrection, according to ABC News. In late December, the Colorado Supreme Court and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows ruled for Trump to be removed from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
One board member, Catherine S. McCrory, said she believed an insurrection occurred on Jan. 6, but joined the others in voting against the lawsuit, according to ABC News. Hearing officer Clark Erickson reportedly said the case should be brought to the courts.
“The Election Code is simply not suited for issues involving constitutional analysis. Those issues belong in the Courts,” Erickson said, according to ABC News. (RELATED: ‘A SAD DAY IN AMERICA’: Trump Blasts Colorado Ballot Ban)
McCrory and Erickson alleged that Trump engaged in insurrection by allegedly inciting the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot in an attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election results.
Trump has denied ever participating in an alleged insurrection. Trump has argued that an insurrection must be “violent enough, potent enough, long enough, and organized enough to be considered a significant step on the way to rebellion,” according to Bellows’ decision. She argued Trump’s interpretation was “poorly supported by evidence.”
“Trump did not engage in insurrection, as that term is used in the Constitution,” Adam Merrill, Trump’s legal representative, said, according to ABC News. “It is a complicated legal term that has been rarely interpreted and it wasn’t even articulated correctly by the hearing officer in this case and, frankly, never should have reached it because of the lack of evidence, and because of the lack of jurisdiction.”
Free Speech for America announced they will appeal the Board of Elections’ decision, according to ABC News.
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hold oral arguments on Feb. 8 on a challenge to the Colorado decision.