Washington, DC (CNN) Minnesota's first presidential primary in nearly 30 years is facing a legal challenge over the Republican party ballot, which only lists President Donald Trump.

Jim Martin, a small-business operator and political independent, filed a lawsuit over the March 3 primary objecting to a new state law allowing party chairs to determine who appears on primary ballots.

"By stripping us of our ability to govern ourselves and equipping the central committees with the power to decide who can and (more importantly) who cannot govern, we Minnesotans are driven downwards into the disparaging pits of authoritarianism," said Martin in a public statement on his election website . "I find this to be shocking."

The 2020 presidential primary will be the state's first since 1992, after a law passed three years ago did away with presidential straw polls taken at precinct caucuses. The primary ballots are set to include two of the "major" political parties in Minnesota -- Republicans and the Democratic-affiliated Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

The ballot submitted by the Minnesota GOP ahead of the state's March 3 Super Tuesday presidential primary excludes all other Republican candidates but Trump.

Read More