If Democrats had gotten their wish after the chaos former President Donald Trump unleashed in 2020, this year’s presidential election would be a lot more streamlined. The Democrats made several attempts to pass bills aimed at strengthening voting rights and setting a new floor for how states run federal elections, but they all failed to get past Republican filibusters. And so, heading into the 2024 cycle, the status quo remains the same. Each of the 50 states (and Washington, D.C.) has its own disjointed rules governing elections.
Keep that in mind as several challenges to Trump’s candidacy make their way through the courts. Colorado and Maine, through very different processes, have determined that the former president engaged in an insurrection in his attempt to overturn his 2020 loss and is therefore disqualified from holding office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. As they push back against those decisions, Republicans are being forced to confront exactly what it means for states to retain full control over their elections.
Republicans are being forced to confront exactly what it means for states to retain full control over their elections.
Efforts to knock Trump off the ballot have varied wildly based on the various election laws in the states where advocacy groups have filed disqualification suits on behalf of voters. Colorado was always a ripe target because of the mandate given to the secretary of state to determine a candidate’s qualifications. And in Maine, the decision to disqualify Trump came directly from Secretary of State Shenna Bellows herself without an intervening court order.
The Colorado Republican Party filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court last month, asking for an expedited hearing to overturn the state Supreme Court’s ruling. But the justices have traditionally shied away from overturning a state’s election law as ruled on by its Supreme Court. The 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore to overturn a recount order from Florida’s…
Read the full article here