In a recent editorial, Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State of Georgia from the Republican Party, expressed his opposition to the efforts aimed at disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential election. He emphasized that the decision regarding Trump’s eligibility should ultimately rest with the electorate, rather than being determined solely by legal means.
Certain individuals critical of Trump have contended that he ought to be rendered ineligible for candidacy based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. This section explicitly states that anyone who previously held office and participated in insurrection against the United States is ineligible to hold public office again.
In the case of Trump, his detractors have asserted that his involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack would invoke this provision and bar him from seeking public office.
Raffensperger had previously resisted Trump’s endeavors to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Almost three years later, Raffensperger has voiced his opposition to the efforts aimed at preventing Trump from appearing on the ballot. He highlighted that the 14th Amendment was originally formulated as a mechanism to address Confederate officials’ potential efforts to rejoin the government following their defeat in the Civil War.
Additionally, he contended that this current endeavor to exclude Biden from the ballot represents the latest attempt to circumvent the electoral process.
He also mentioned that starting from 2018, Georgia has witnessed defeated candidates resorting to legal action through their attorneys in a bid to overturn election results and claim victory. Nevertheless, he asserted that this strategy has proven ineffective, with the courts having already dismissed both Stacey Abrams’ allegations of mismanagement in the 2018 election and Donald Trump’s challenges following the 2020 presidential election.
