(The Center Square) – Former President Donald Trump will be on the ballot in the 2024 Oregon Republican presidential primary, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced.
The announcement comes as Free Speech for the People tries to block Trump from appearing on the ballot in all 50 states. It asked Griffin-Valade to take Trump off the ballot, citing a section of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that bars people from holding office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Historically, the provision was mostly used to prevent former Confederates from holding elected office after the Civil War.
“Oregon law does not give me the authority to determine the qualifications of candidates in a presidential primary,” Secretary Griffin-Valade said. “I will follow our usual process and expect to put Donald Trump on the primary ballot unless a court directs me otherwise.”
Under state law, presidential primary elections are different from other elections, where the Secretary can disqualify a candidate.
“In a presidential primary, voters are not deciding who will hold office or even who will go on the general election ballot,” the release said. “Instead, they are communicating their preference to party delegates who choose a nominee at the party’s nominating convention.”
The Oregon Department of Justice offered legal advice here. The Department said the Secretary had no authority to disqualify a candidate in a presidential primary election. That is because the state because no qualifications exist for who can be considered at a party nominating convention.
The decision applies to the primary, not the November 2024 general election.
“I understand that people want to skip to the end of this story. But right now, we don’t even know who the nominee will be,” Secretary Griffin-Valade said. “When the general election comes, we’ll follow the law and be completely transparent with our reasoning.”
