Minnesota is one of four states where a candidate who is constitutionally ineligible to be president will appear on a Super Tuesday presidential primary ballot.
Cenk Uygur, a naturalized citizen born in Turkey to Turkish parents, is among nine names that state DFL Chairman Ken Martin placed on the party’s primary ballot. The U.S. Constitution requires that presidents meet just three qualifications: be at least 35 years old, have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years and be a natural-born citizen.
Other states, including Arkansas, New Hampshire and Nevada, have rejected Uygur’s candidacy. Last month Uygur challenged the South Carolina Democratic Party’s denial of his access to that state’s Saturday primary ballot. A federal judge rejected his claim that the due process clause and equal protection clause of the same Constitution overrode the presidential eligibility language.
Uygur is a left-leaning Democrat of the Bernie Sanders segment of the party who has an online political commentary show called “The Young Turks.”
In a statement, Martin said he was following legal advice.
“Our lawyers advised us that it was better to allow candidates to appear on our primary ballot until a court determines that they are ineligible,” Martin said. “We also believe in erring on the side of ballot access — which is why we don’t require fees or petitions to get on the ballot.
[image_caption]Ken Martin[/image_caption]
Under the Minnesota presidential primary law, the state party chairs send a list of names that should be on the ballot to the secretary of state, who performs a ministerial function of creating the ballot but makes no decisions about which candidates appear.
Anna Mathews, the executive director of the Minnesota Republican Party, said the party requires those who want to be on the ballot to fill out a form that — among other questions — asks if they meet constitutional eligibility criteria.
“It’s actually very odd to me that they would place someone like that on the ballot,” Mathews said. State parties do get requests from little known or unknown candidates and have to make judgments about whether they should appear.
“But across the board, I think the very basic thing that hopefully everyone could agree on is following our Constitution,” she said. “That’s the bare minimum that is indisputable.” That said, both party chairs have complete discretion, and Martin can do what he thinks is right.
When Uygar was placed on Super Tuesday ballots in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas and Vermont, he said this: “Nothing is impossible. We told you we could get on these ballots — and we delivered. We’re telling you that we can knock out Joe Biden — and we’re going to deliver on that, too. We need the strongest possible candidate against Donald Trump.
“I asked the voters of these states to put me in the ballgame. And they just did. Now, it’s official — anything is possible!”
Late last month another candidate on the Minnesota presidential primary ballot asked that voters not vote for her. Krystal Gabel of Colorado said she didn’t consent to have her name listed on the Legal Marijuana Now party ballot and asked voters not to give her their vote.
The presidential qualifications clause has been interpreted to define “natural born” to include people born in other countries to citizens of the U.S. The late-Sen. John McCain was considered naturally born because, despite being born in Panama, his father was a U.S. Navy admiral stationed there.
Whether a candidate who is ineligible to be president should be denied access to a state primary ballot was the central legal question in litigation last year brought by a bipartisan group of Minnesota residents, including prominent Democrats. Because former President Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States on January 6, 2021, the petition claimed, he is not eligible to be president again under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That ineligibility required the secretary of state and then the courts to strike his name from the ballot.
The Minnesota Supreme Court denied the petition, deciding that the primary is a party event and that the party must be allowed to decide who appears on its ballot. Should Trump be nominated by the Republicans this summer, petitioners could make another request regarding the general election ballot, the justices stated.
But a similar case out of Colorado is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
