PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced her decision to not remove former President Donald Trump from the state's primary ballot on Thursday amid questions if the Republican frontrunner qualifies for presidency after his involvement in the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
In her announcement, the secretary explained she will follow usual procedure for Oregon primaries and will not remove Trump from the ballot for the Oregon Republican Party primary.
“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.”
The secretary of state’s office added that state law treats presidential primary elections differently than others in which the secretary has the authority to remove a candidate.
Griffine-Valade argues that in presidential primaries, voters are not deciding who will hold office or who will make the general election ballot, rather, she says voters are voicing their preferences to party delegates who will decide their party nominee.
The secretary furthered that the Oregon Department of Justice’s legal advice to her office “lacks the authority to disqualify a candidate in a presidential primary election because there is no set of qualifications for who can be considered at a party nominating convention."
Her decision only applies to the primary election and not the November general election. The secretary's office tells KOIN 6 News that a separate decision will be made as needed for the 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,” Griffin-Valade said. “When the general election comes, we’ll follow the law and be completely transparent with our reasoning.”
The secretary's decision comes after the non-profit Free Speech For People sent a letter to her office on Nov. 21 calling for Trump to be banned from the Oregon ballot after his involvement in the January 6 insurrection.
In their letter, Free Speech For People and Oregon Co-Counsel Jason Kafoury of Kafoury & McDougal and Daniel Meeks, argued that Trump should be disqualified from the primary and general election ballots under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The group asked the secretary for a temporary rule and later a declaratory ruling disqualifying Trump from the ballot.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in the United States Constitution states no one holding public office “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.”
The letter stated “With the urgency of an approaching primary election, we urge you to address this critical issue now. Mr. Trump’s conduct encouraging the ‘Big Lie’ of a stolen election, encouraging and inciting an insurrection, and facilitating that insurrection by refusing to intervene to stop it despite urgent requests that he do so and by supervising subordinates who actively blocked the National Guard from assisting the besieged Capitol Police, renders him ineligible for any federal office, including that of president.”
The challenge is the latest from Free Speech For People, which issued similar challenges in Michigan and Minnesota. The organization describes itself as a national non-partisan group that focuses on holding insurrectionists accountable “for their role in the violent assault on American democracy.”
