Concern Over Trump’s Ballot Access

Arizona Secretary of State, Adrian Fontes, stated that his office is treating the attempts to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot with utmost seriousness. This stems from the ongoing debate among legal scholars regarding the applicability of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which disqualifies public officials involved in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, to Trump due to the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Fontes spoke to NBC, saying:

“We have to have a final certification of eligible candidates by Dec. 14 for Arizona’s presidential preference election.” Adding, “And because this will ultimately end up in court, we are taking this very seriously.”

“We need to run an election. We need to know who is eligible, and this is of incredible national interest. We aren’t taking a position one way or the other.”

“If there are people who want to fight this out, they need to start swinging, because I have an election to run.”

Arizona’s Position

Fontes made it clear that his office isn’t adopting a stance on the issue. Nevertheless, he encouraged supporters to act promptly, as the conclusive certification of qualified candidates for Arizona’s presidential preference election must be finished by December 14. He stressed the significance of establishing eligibility because of its relevance to the nation and the impending election.

Nonetheless, apparently, Arizona leaned Democratic in both 2020 and 2022, but with extremely narrow margins, and numerous inquiries were raised regarding the integrity of their electoral processes – many of which still have yet to be answered.