Illinois Board of Elections to decide primary ballot eligibility for Trump and Biden

CHICAGO - We're just hours away from learning whether both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden can remain on the Illinois primary ballot.

On Tuesday, objectors will make their case before the Illinois Board of Elections that Trump should be removed from the primary ballot for inciting the insurrection that resulted in the Capitol riot on January 6.

Burt Odelson, an expert in governmental law, says that claim has no legal basis.

"The defendant, Trump, is entitled to his due process just like everyone else, and the due process comes in the criminal court," Odelson said.

Meanwhile, another group will argue President Biden should be removed from the ballot for allegedly allowing enemies of the state to gain entry to the U.S. over the southern border.

FOX 32 political analyst Stephen Caliendo calls the strategy political retribution.

"This is frivolous. It's clearly political retaliation. It's intended, I believe, to sort of muddy the waters," Caliendo said.

Early voting begins February 8 in many Illinois counties, including Kane and DuPage, leaving very little time to decide who's in and who's out.

"In order to print their ballot, they have to know who's on the ballot, and if someone is removed from the ballot and you have to reprint, it's a lot of money," Odelson said.

More than a dozen states have filed challenges to Trump's candidacy, and all of them could be decided by the outcome of one case.

"We know the Colorado case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Whatever the court decides in that case is going to hold for every other case," Caliendo said.