Massachusetts voting officials rule Trump will stay on the ballot

Former President Donald Trump will appear on the ballot in Massachusetts, the State Ballot Law Commission has decided.  

The Commission cited a lack of jurisdiction in its ruling to remove Trump from the ballot in the upcoming Republican primary, according to the Boston Globe. Many other states have seen legal attempts to do the same under Sec. 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars those who have engaged in "insurrection." 

Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Amy Carnevale commented on the decision, saying she is glad to see that the state will “allow voters to choose their nominee for president.” 

“The ill-conceived effort to remove a presidential candidate from the ballot would have undercut our system of democracy,” she said in a statement. “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.” 

In a press release from the Trump team, spokesman Steven Cheung applauded the decision, saying, "Yesterday the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission dealt another blow to Biden Democrats and their Election Interference attempt to disenfranchise millions of American voters." 


Composed of two Democrats, Joseph Eisenstadt and Joseph Boncore, and one Republican, Francis Crimmins Jr., the Commission decided it did not have jurisdiction in the matter.  

In the filing, the three-person panel Commission wrote, "Having reviewed the materials submitted, has determined that the State Ballot Law Commission does not have jurisdiction over the matters presented." 

“At this point, there are no nominees and instead only candidates seeking a nomination,” the Commission added.  

"Unlike state primaries, where the winner at the state primary appears as the party nominee at the general election, presidential primary winners do not." 

“Instead… the state committees of the respective political parties nominate the presidential electors, who must be listed on a certificate of nomination on which each elector must accept their nomination and pledge to vote for the president and vice president candidates named in the filing,” the filing continued. “While the Commission’s jurisdiction, as discussed above, includes objections to certificates of nomination, the Commission has previously determined that the electors are the only candidates subject to challenge.” 

One of the lawyers who pushed the lawsuit, Shannon Liss-Riordan, said "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." She is planning on an appeal to the state Supreme Judicial Court.