(Bloomberg) -- Former President Donald Trump remains on the Republican primary ballot in Illinois after the state Board of Elections rejected a complaint to disqualify him over claims he violated the Constitution’s “insurrection clause.”

A group of voters sought to keep Trump off the ballot in Illinois arguing he engaged in insurrection by inciting the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Similar complaints were filed in other states, and the US Supreme Court is considering whether Colorado can bar Trump from the 2024 ballot.

The Illinois State Board of Elections, comprised of four Democrats and four Republicans, said it lacked the authority to consider the measure and voted 8-0 not to accept the objection to Trump’s candidacy. That means he remains certified for the state’s March 19 GOP primary ballot unless a court rules otherwise.

An attorney for the voters seeking to disqualify Trump said they would appeal the board’s decision in state court, according to the Associated Press.

Retired Republican Illinois judge Clark Erickson, an appointed hearing officer in the case, recommended that the board not disqualify Trump because it lacks the authority to address issues requiring constitutional analysis. 

But Erickson also said that “a preponderance of the evidence” presented at a Jan. 26 hearing and elsewhere proves that Trump engaged in insurrection, and if the board disagreed with his finding it lacks the authority to decide constitutional issues, it should remove him from the ballot.

Erickson wrote that the evidence shows Trump understood and exploited the divided US political climate by falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen, and that he sought to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress certified President Joe Biden’s Electoral College win.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he manipulated, instigated, aided and abetted an insurrection on January 6,” Republican board member Catherine McCrory said before her vote. “However, having said that, it’s not my place to rule on that today.”

The dispute turns on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted shortly after the Civil War as the nation grappled with the status of former Confederate soldiers and leaders. The provision says a person who took an oath to support the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” is ineligible to hold office again. 

Trump has contended that he didn’t engage in insurrection, that the clause doesn’t apply to the president and that Congress must pass legislation to be able to enforce disqualification under the 14th amendment. In Illinois, his attorneys also argued the state elections board didn’t have the authority to decide the complex issues of federal law in the case.

--With assistance from Greg Stohr.

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