Illinois elections board votes to keep Trump on primary ballot

The Illinois State Board of Elections ruled Tuesday that former President Trump could remain on the state’s primary ballot, delivering him a key victory in a Democratic stronghold.

The eight-member state board, which includes four Republicans and four Democrats, made the decision in a unanimous vote.

The former president’s status in the Prairie State’s primary, which is scheduled for March 19, was thrown in doubt after a group of voters, represented by the national nonprofit Free Speech For People, filed a petition earlier this month seeking to keep his name off the ballot, citing the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection” clause.

Trump in a Truth Social post celebrated the decision Tuesday.

“Thank you to the Illinois State Board of Elections for ruling 8-0 in protecting the Citizens of our Country from the Radical Left Lunatics who are trying to destroy it,” he wrote. “The VOTE was 8-0 in favor of keeping your favorite President (ME!), on the Ballot. I love Illinois. Make America Great Again!”

The group of voters argued in a filing that Trump wasn’t eligible to run for the presidency because of the 14th Amendment’s section 3 clause, which says that specific office holders who took an oath “to support the Constitution of the United States” could be disqualified if they “have engaged in insurrection.”

Hearing officer Clark Erickson, a former Republican judge, argued ahead of the Illinois state board’s meeting that “it is impossible to imagine the Board deciding whether Candidate Trump is disqualified by Section 3 without the Board engaging in significant and sophisticated constitutional analysis” and recommended that the motion to bar Trump from the ballot be dismissed.

However, Erickson suggested that “in the event that the Board decides to not follow the Hearing Officer’s recommendation to grant the Candidate’s Motion to Dismiss,” Trump’s name should be removed from the primary ballot.

Ahead of the state board’s vote, the Illinois State Board of Elections’s general counsel, Marni Malowitz, recommended that the eight members not remove Trump’s name from the ballot, explaining that the elections officials would have to address legal issues around whether the 14th Amendment challenge applies to the office of the president.

While all of the board members voted to keep Trump on the ballot, one of the board members did preface before her vote that she did believe the former president engaged in an insurrection.

“I want it to be clear that this Republican believes that there was an insurrection on Jan. 6. There’s no doubt in my mind that he manipulated, instigated, aided and abetted an insurrection on the Jan. 6,” board member Catherine McCrory said. “However, having said that, it is not my place to rule on that today.” 

Recent rulings in Maine and Colorado were in favor of keeping Trump off their respective primary ballots, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Trump’s name, however, will remain on the Colorado and Maine primary ballots as the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in that case next week. The ruling will have implications on whether Trump’s name could be placed on other primary ballots across the country.

Updated: 3:22 p.m.