President Donald Trump will remain on the primary ballot in Illinois after a Cook County judge granted his request to hold her decision to remove him until a ruling comes from the United States Supreme Court.
Judge Tracie Porter’s ruled Wednesday that the former president should be removed from the ballot, but put a stay on the ruling pending an appeal. In a decision release Thursday, she extended that stay.
A ruling is expected to be released soon from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding Trump’s removal from the ballot in Colorado. Petitions to remove the former president claim he is disqualified under the 14th Amendment due to his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building.
Elizabeth Gannon, executive director of the Peoria County Election Commission, says the most important thing to know is that he is currently on the ballot. She says for people who already cast their votes, that means there’s nothing they need to do.
“There's a stay. So we're either waiting for the ruling that came down yesterday to be appealed,” she said. “Or we're waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to make their decision. So everything is kind of up in the air. It's in limbo, but nothing is changing on the ballot right now.”
Gannon said they’ll rely on guidance from the State Board of Elections if Trump is ultimately removed from the ballot.
“This is really unprecedented,” she said. “So, election jurisdictions will really be looking towards the Illinois State Board of Elections for guidance on this, and we'll just have to go from there.”
John Ackerman, Tazewell County Clerk, said their next steps will rely on what’s actually in the ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.
He also wanted to reassure people that if they’ve already cast their ballot, there’s nothing they need to do to change it.
“Anybody who was thinking about coming in and voting, (we're) still encouraging them to do so, not (to) take this announcement as a reason not to participate in the process,” he said. “And that I'm hopeful that this will all be resolved quickly and we can move forward without any question in anybody's minds.”
Ackerman said as an individual he was disappointed by the decision because of the added confusion to the election process.
“If you are going to make a statement and then put it on hold and wait for the Supreme Court to make a decision, why don't you just wait for the Supreme Court ruling like everybody else, without having to throw this hand grenade for lack of a better word into the public's process?” he said.
Ackerman said he believes the decision from the U.S. Supreme Court will come relatively soon.
Mail-in voting and early voting has already begun for the March primary. People can check their election commission’s website for voting times and information.
