Democrats who are trying to kick President Trump off the ballot in New York State committed numerous legal fatal flaws that will ultimately keep him on the ballot.
That is according to a former legal counsel at the New York State Board of Elections.
Attorney Joseph T. Burns laid out a legal roadmap for the South Shore Press on why New York Democrats will fail in their attempt to remove President Trump from the ballot based on their belief he engaged in an insurrection on January 6th.
Their argument is that this is a violation of the 14th Amendment which bars anyone who engaged in an insurrection from holding federal office.
“They didn't seem to have dotted all their I's crossed all their T's, which I think opens the door for someone like me to say, here are these deficiencies that you have with your challenge here in New York,” said Burns.
Democratic State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) sent a letter to the New York State Board of Elections asking Commissioners to remove Trump from the ballot in the Empire State, arguing the former President engaged in an insurrection related to January 6th.
They also filed suit in State Supreme Court in Albany, asking the courts to bar Trump from the New York ballot.
Burns described New York State Election Law as “byzantine” and extremely narrow in scope. Those like Senator Hoylman-Sigal have an extremely small legal needle to thread, and according to Burns, they missed the mark on many levels.
“They went about this improperly,” said Burns, who stated there are three very specific reasons why the legal challenge on the 14th Amendment will fail.
Based on New York State Election Law, presidential candidates can get on a New York ballot for President three ways.
Gather the required number of signatures and submit petitions to run.
Claim that you qualify for federal matching funds based on how much money you have raised
Petition the NYS Board of Elections by stating you are a nationally known candidate.
The Trump campaign chose option #3 and submitted that petition in December 2023. The two Republican Board of Elections Commissioners accepted that petition, and agreed to place Trump on the New York ballot based on him being a “nationally known candidate.”
According to Burns there’s two problems the Democrats face, based on the extremely narrow scope of New York State Election law. They can only argue that Trump is not a national figure and therefore cannot be named on the ballot. The 14th Amendment argument is not relevant according to Burns.
Plus the clock starts ticking on the statute of limitations for objectors to file a complaint, which is ten days after President Trump submitted his paperwork. Since a formal letter was sent by the Democratic Senator in February of 2024, this was far past the ten day period when Trump submitted his petition in December 2023.
“The Board of Elections, they have a ministerial function. The Board is a ministerial agency. They don't have the ability to go beyond their power. when they were making their determination. The only thing they were looking at was ‘did Donald Trump properly and timely file his request and was he nationally known?’ And it's beyond their scope to go and make judgments on all these other issues that have been raised,” said Burns.
The former New York State Board of Elections attorney then pointed out that because of this point, that they do not have a proper objection under election law, those filing suit in State Supreme Court did not file there as proper objectors. Meaning they don’t have the legal standing to be a qualified objector in court.
“They couldn't go to court. They didn't go to court as proper objectors under the election law,” said Burns.
Legal counsel for the Democratic objectors told Fox News they disagree and are qualified to file suit.
"The Petitioners are perfectly well-qualified to bring this case and the case has been properly filed. Petitioners have a very well-founded concern that an insurrectionist should not be able to take over the reins of government,” said attorney Roger Bernstien.
Those wishing to kick President Trump off the ballot in New York should hope the courts and Board of Elections move quickly. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a Colorado case that are trying to remove the former president from the ballot there, and the New York State Republican presidential primary is April 2nd, 2024.
“I would bet that when you go into the privacy (voting) booth on April 2nd, you look at your ballot, you're going to see President Trump's name on it. I would bet money on that,” concluded Burns.