SEATTLE — A Kitsap County Superior Court will consider a motion to remove former President Donald Trump from the presidential ballot in Washington state, part of a growing effort in states across the country to bar Trump from running for reelection because of his role in fomenting the attacks on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The U.S. Supreme Court has already agreed to hear a case stemming from Colorado, where the state Supreme Court barred Trump from the presidential ballot, ruling that he had participated in an insurrection against the United States.
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars anyone who has served as “an officer of the United States” from holding “any office … under the United States” if they have “engaged in insurrection.”
In Washington, a special hearing has been set for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Kitsap County Superior Court. The case is titled “In re the Ballot Eligibility of Donald J Trump.” It will be heard by retired Judge Jay Roof, who was first appointed by then-Gov. Mike Lowry, and who also served as a Superior Court judge for more than 20 years before retiring in 2016.
The case comes from eight Kitsap County residents — Frankey Ithaka, Connor Shelton, Gwyn Johnson, Michelle Howald, Nicholas Roberts, Robert Brem, Shayna Hartley and Stefanie Shelton — who are challenging Trump’s place on the presidential primary ballot. Ballots for the March 12 presidential primary were finalized this week.
The eight petitioners, in an affidavit filed the day after Washington’s ballot was finalized, argue Trump “engaged in an insurrection” when “he and his supporters, without evidence, attempted to overthrow the election of Joseph Biden through violence.”
“He has continued to aid and abet those who engaged in violence to overturn the election on January 6, 2021, through his words and financial support,” they write, arguing that his behavior “disqualifies him from holding public office” under the 14th Amendment.
KUOW first reported on their effort to remove Trump from the ballot.
The group does not have a lawyer. Ithaka, the lead petitioner, is a middle school teacher from Port Orchard.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said ballots for the primary need to be printed and sent out weeks before election day.
“Our state’s process gives the courts an important role in answering questions about eligibility,” Hobbs said in a statement Friday. “I look forward to having this question resolved in a timely fashion.”
Trump’s position on the ballot has been challenged in at least 35 states, according to The New York Times.
He has been disqualified in only two so far — Colorado and Maine — although both those decisions are pending appeal.
In Maine, after Colorado’s Supreme Court had acted, the secretary of state removed Trump from the ballot.
Hobbs previously said he does not have that power in Washington and he thinks the U.S. Supreme Court should decide the issue.
In Washington, state law lays out the process for removing someone from a ballot. An affidavit must be filed no later than two days after ballots are finalized and it must be heard by a court “and finally disposed of” no later than five days after it is filed.
