Maine secretary of state blocks Trump from 2024 primary ballot
Eden Villalovas
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Maine‘s Democratic secretary of state removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot on Thursday.
“I conclude that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid,” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said in a Thursday ruling.
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Two weeks after holding a public hearing on Trump’s ballot status, Bellows concluded the Republican front-runner’s primary petition is invalid, saying he violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment by inciting the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Specifically, I find that the declaration on his candidate consent form is false because he is not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment,” she said.
According to the ruling, the effect of Bellows’s decision will be suspended until the Superior Court rules on any appeal or until the appeal window has expired. Trump has until Jan. 2 to appeal the decision.
Trump’s legal team asked Bellows to recuse herself from ruling on his ballot eligibility on Wednesday in a four-page letter, writing she “exhibited a personal bias in this matter.”
Trump’s attorneys also argued in the Maine case, along with other cases, that state election officials do not have the proper jurisdiction in determining candidate qualifications and cannot interpret the Constitution’s insurrection clause.
The decision follows a ruling last week from the Colorado Supreme Court, which decided Trump was blocked from the state’s primary ballot under the 14th Amendment. The Colorado secretary of state said Trump will remain on the ballot for now after the Colorado Republican Party appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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The nation’s highest court is expected to take on Colorado’s case that cited the constitutional amendment barring people from holding certain offices who have previously taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Lawsuits in dozens of states have sprung up in an effort to disqualify Trump from the ballot.