The Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission has dismissed an attempt to keep former President Donald Trump off the state's ballot.
The panel dismissed the challenge on Monday, ruling that it “does not have jurisdiction over the matters presented.”
Appointed by the governor, the panel consists of two Democrats and one Republican.
The ballot challenge followed the same model as other states, arguing that Trump was involved in aiding an insurrection on January 6, 2021 — and therefore ineligible to run in the 2024 election.
Trump has not been charged or convicted of engaging in insurrection against the United States.
The Republican frontrunner's campaign celebrated the decision in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Yesterday, the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission dealt another blow to Biden Democrats and their Election Interference attempt to disenfranchise millions of American voters by trying to remove President Trump from the ballot,” the campaign said. “In discarding this latest hoax, the commission sided with the Constitution, ensuring that the people of Massachusetts will have the right to vote for the candidate of their choice in 2024.”
Amy Carnevale, the Massachusetts Republican Party chairperson, also applauded the panel's decision.
“The ill-conceived effort to remove a presidential candidate from the ballot would have undercut our system of democracy,” Carnevale said in a statement. “The decision of who Massachusetts should choose as the Republican nominee for president of the United States will now rely squarely with the voters, as it should.”
Shannon Liss-Riordan, a labor attorney who brought the complaints, told the Boston Globe that she plans to appeal the decision.
“Importantly, this was not a ruling on the merits,” Liss-Riordan said in a statement. “We believe the commission erred in its interpretation of Massachusetts election laws when it held it did not have jurisdiction to rule on this dispute.”
Liss-Riordan previously ran as a Democratic candidate for state attorney general.
The Massachusetts primary will take place on March 5 — better known as Super Tuesday.
