Online information character Cenk Uygur gained’t qualify for Democratic presidential main, Arkansas guidelines

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas election officers on Monday mentioned on-line information character Cenk Uygur, who was born in Turkey, can’t seem on the state’s Democratic presidential main poll subsequent 12 months.

The dedication comes weeks after Uygur proclaimed that he had turn out to be the primary naturalized citizen on a presidential poll after submitting paperwork with the state and the Arkansas Democratic Party. Uygur‘s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey when he was 8.

“My office has received your candidate filing paperwork,” Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston said in a letter to Uygur. “However, based on your own proclamation, your are not qualified to hold the elected office for which you filed. Therefore, I cannot, in good faith, certify your name to the ballot.”

The Constitution sets simple requirements for president: A candidate must be at least 35 years old and “a natural born citizen.”

Several other states, including the early primary states of New Hampshire and Nevada, also have rejected his application to appear on their ballots.

Uygur said officials were treating naturalized citizens as “second-class.” He has argued that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution makes him eligible to run for president.

“This is the last form of acceptable bigotry in American society and I’m going to battle it with each fiber of my being,” Uygur mentioned in an announcement. “I’m not going to accept that I don’t belong in my own country.”

Uygur, the co-creator of the net information and commentary present “The Young Turks,” introduced in October he was difficult President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. He beforehand made a failed bid for a California congressional seat.

Reed Brewer, a spokesman for the Arkansas Democratic Party, mentioned based mostly on previous courtroom rulings, the occasion didn’t have authority to find out whether or not Uygur was eligible for the poll.

“Because of the vagaries of state law, rejecting a filing is simply not an option for us,” Brewer mentioned.

Brewer mentioned he didn’t know whether or not the occasion would refund Ugyur his $2,500 submitting price.