Chuck Gray Speaks Out Against Efforts to Remove Donald Trump from 2024 Ballot

Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray recently sent a letter to the New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan outlining his concern after recent reports suggest Scanlan is considering removing Donald Trump from the New Hampshire primary ballot in 2024 citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Also known as the Disqualification Clause, the section prohibits someone from holding federal or state office if they took an oath to support the Consitution of the United States and "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

Gray wrote, "While many scholars have observed that the drafters' use of 'insurrection' and 'rebellion,' paired with the historic backdrop of the Fourteenth Amendment, was meant to bar Confederate soldiers from holding office after the Civil War, it does not take a scholar to state the obvious: Donald Trump did not engage in an insurrection or rebellion. He questioned the results of an election. Lest we are living through some Orwellian dystopia, the weaponization of the Fourteenth Amendment to remove political opponents from the ballot undermines the sanctity of the Constitution and our entire election process."

While supporters of removing Trump from the ballot believe his connection to the Jan. 6 riot falls under the 14th Amendment category, Donald Trump has not been found guilty of crimes related to the incident. Nor do the charges accuse the former president of encouraging or inspiring violence at the Capitol. The indictment states that Trump "exploited" the chaos to support his election fraud claims.

In August, Trump pleaded not guilty to the four charges brought against him.

Besides the Granite State, parties in Colorado as well as Michigan also seek to remove Trump from the 2024 ballots under the Diqualification Clause.

Gray, in his letter, wrote the New Hampshire secretary that "in America, the right to vote is sacred, and any restrictions on that right strike at the heart of representative government. We cannot allow authoritarian election officials to use outrageous legal theories to remove their political opponents from the ballot. To do so is not only unAmerican, it is also shocking to the conscience and utterly sickening."

PBS wrote that Georgia prosecutors said Trump's trial could last four months and rely on 150 witnesses.