(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/28/2023) Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said she and legal scholars are considering whether former President Donald Trump's indictments will authorize state election officials to keep him off their presidential primary ballots, with Michigan participating in that conversation.
"I would say there are valid legal arguments being made to that effect, but it's far too soon to really assess the likelihood of that, because a lot of the facts and the evidence and the legal analysis that all of that would have to be rooted in has still yet to be played out," Benson said.
On Monday's episode of the MIRS Monday podcast, Benson confirmed that she and Secretaries of State from across the country are having conversations about Trump's present-day eligibility to appear on a ballot.
She described that both Democratic and Republican chief election officials want to make a decision that's rooted in the law, and not in politics.
Democratic Secretaries of State Cisco Aguilar of Nevada and Shenna Bellows of Maine, as well as Republican Secretary of State Bradford Raffensperger of Georgia, are among those who Benson expressed that she's communicating with.
Trump stands as the perceived frontrunner of the Republican presidential field for the 2024 primary elections.
Although he did not participate in the Aug. 23 televised debate hosted by the Republican National Committee (RNC), Emerson College Polling found that 50% of 460 respondents from Aug. 25-26 pinned Trump as their preferred candidate.
Technically, Trump did fall by six points in the aforementioned poll, which concluded a day before Trump surrendered himself to the Fulton County jail in Georgia in relation to his fourth indictment.
However, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remains significantly behind him at 12%, as well as 38-year-old pharmaceutical businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at 9%.
Legal scholars are looking into Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. It states that no person shall "hold any office, civil or military" in the country or any state if they've "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S. Constitution after previously taking an oath to protect it.
In the state constitution, an individual is ineligible for local and state elections or appointments if they've been convicted of a felony concerning dishonesty, deceit, fraud or a breach of the public trust – linked to the time the person has held an elective office or worked within the local, state or federal government – in the last 20 years.
Although Trump has not faced convictions, Benson said the 14th Amendment is unlike Michigan's constitution in how legal arguments have questioned whether the federal statute does not require a conviction to be triggered.
"That's part of what is an ongoing sort of legal question. What is the due process requirement then? (How) do we define 'insurrection'? Who defines that?" Benson said. "I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is it's not as cut-and-dried as some legal scholars would suggest."
On the podcast, Benson explained how, while election officials in the state must deal with really novel issues in a way that complies with the law and constitutional instructions, they must also be "mindful of the precedent that's created, particularly in this era of false equivalency where you have facts and then you have aspersions, and conspiracy theories."
"How do we make sure the law is applied in a way that's rooted in facts and evidence, always?" Benson said. "Then there's a question of who … should it (ultimately be) the U.S. Supreme Court who makes decisions like that or weighs in on that? Or in addition to state officials? So, I think we should expect to see all of that unfold in the months ahead." Another evolving piece is what Michigan's early presidential primary will look like for Republicans.
Currently, political observers are expecting the state's Democratic-led Legislature to adjourn early for the year – an early sine die – to host a presidential primary on Feb. 27, aligning Michigan with the schedule designed by the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) Rules and Bylaws Committee (with President Joe BIDEN's blessing).
Because the RNC did not authorize Michigan to conduct a presidential primary before March of next year, Republicans could lose up to 90% of their delegates for the national convention if they utilize the new date to its full extent.
Earlier this summer, the Michigan GOP approved a proposal to have 16 delegate votes for a Republican presidential candidate be decided through the Feb. 27 primary date, and two-thirds – or 70% – of their total state delegate votes be determined in party-run caucus meetings.
"Will the Republican state party have a caucus? Will they go with the primary? All of that is evolving, (and) unfolding, in addition to this question of who will still be in the race (in) February or March," Benson said. "A lot of it is very much based on what the parties want."
