SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) – In an unprecedented move, Maine and Colorado have removed Former President Trump from the ballot for their primary election. On Thursday, Illinois voters filed a petition to bar the former president from the state primary ballot as well. They cited his involvement in the January 6th Capitol Insurrection as why he shouldn’t be allowed to run.

“This is the first time we’ve dealt with a situation where the reason for trying to remove some from the ballot or bar someone from running would be because they had participated in an insurrection,” said Professor Emeritus Kent Redfield from the University of Illinois Springfield’s Political Science Department. “We’ve only had candidates that have gotten thrown off the ballot in a particular state because they didn’t have enough signatures on their nominating petition, or they didn’t have they somehow didn’t meet the eligibility criteria.”

Redfield said Colorado and Maine have removed Trump from the ballot because of a portion of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. It reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

Redfield says there are several questions on whether the amendment can be enforced without set parameters and procedures. However, there is a race against the clock as well as the first votes of the primary are just a week away.

“There’s a certain point at which primary ballots have to be printed,” said Redfield. “You’re also going to have confused and frustrated voters that don’t participate or give up on the process. And that’s a long term really bad thing in terms of the health of the democracy,”

In order for Trump to be removed from the primary ballot in Illinois, the State Board of Elections would have to vote on the matter. The board is broken down in 4 voters of each party, with the vote needing five to get approved. Redfield said the board would likely get deadlocked and Trump would be able to remain on the ballot.

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