North Carolina‘s election board has dismissed a voter's challenge to Donald Trump's candidacy on the state's primary ballot.
On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections voted 4-1 to dismiss the candidacy challenge brought by Brian Martin who argued Trump should be booted from the ballot under the 14th Amendment.
Before the vote, general counsel to the elections board, Paul Cox, made the case against hearing the voter's candidacy challenge and said he was “quite uncertain” as to whether the board had the authority.
The Hill has more:
“I do think it's uncertain. And I think that the board has to consider whether it has the jurisdiction and authority to act,” Cox told members of the board during Tuesday's meeting. “Obviously the board is an administrative agency that derives its authority from the law, and it must consider whether the statutes that give it authority, give it this authority.”
“And, in reading the language of the challenge statutes, I'm quite uncertain as to whether the challenge statutes in North Carolina law contemplate a challenge to a presidential preference primary candidate,” he added.
Siobhan Millen, the sole vote against the motion, pushed back on Cox's arguments, asking him when a voter could bring a candidacy challenge. She argued the board was hiding behind technicalities.
“It seems like there is an unknown as to whether the presidential primary statute controls the field or whether the challenge statute controls the field, and it's never been litigated before. You're uncertain, if I'm hearing you,” Millen said.
“It's troubling to me,” she continued. “We have a voter who's gone to the trouble to fill out a facially very impressive challenge form and we are, to me, hiding behind a technicality by saying it doesn't apply, that we won't even hear it. That's — it's troubling.”
The dismissal came the same day the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump should be removed from the state's primary ballot under the 14th Amendment. (READ NEXT: Colorado Supreme Court Bans Trump From Ballot)
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