Colorado Supreme Court: Trump not on 2024 primary ballot | Abroad

Although the disqualification only applies to the primary elections on March 5, it could also affect the national elections in November. Colorado voted overwhelmingly Democratic in 2020; more than 55 percent of residents preferred Joe Biden over Trump. Colorado is responsible for ten electoral votes out of the total number of 270.

After a group of voters in Colorado filed a lawsuit hoping to get Trump off the ballot, the court ruled in favor: Trump has “disqualified” himself from the U.S. presidency by his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election . The ruling is based on a rarely used provision in the U.S. Constitution that bars officials involved in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.

According to the court, Trump contributed to this by inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Joe Biden’s win was being certified there. “We did not come to this decision lightly,” the Colorado court said in its ruling.

Trump has been claiming ever since the outcome went against him that he is the actual winner, and not Biden. No evidence was ever found to support his claims. Trump’s attempts to change the outcome in his favor led to a lawsuit in the state of Georgia, where the former president and several associates have to answer.

The Colorado court’s decision will not become official until January 4, 2024, to give Trump the opportunity to appeal to the national Supreme Court. He will certainly do that, according to a spokesperson, who also called the decision made in Colorado ‘undemocratic’.

Similar cases have been filed in the states of Minnesota and New Hampshire and dismissed by the courts. In Michigan, the state Supreme Court is still considering it.