BREAKING: Maine’s Secretary of State REMOVES Trump From State Ballot
Maine’s top election official has officially removed President Trump from Maine’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.
Maine’s Democrat Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said Donald Trump was not eligible to be on the state’s primary ballot on the grounds of the 14th Amendment (Insurrection clause).
In her 34-page decision, Bellows wrote, “was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it.”
She continued “A brief call to obey the law does not erase conduct over the course of months, culminating in his speech on the Ellipse.”
Maine’s Secretary of State @shennabellows just removed Trump from the ballot.
Like Colorado, she also stayed the move pending a Supreme Court ruling.
Definitely not election interference from partisan hacks at all. pic.twitter.com/ZxxHnKsRGT
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 29, 2023
Per CNN:
Maine’s top election official has removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot, in a surprising decision based on the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.”
The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office, after the Colorado Supreme Court handed down its own stunning ruling that removed him from the ballot earlier this month. The development is a significant victory for Trump’s critics, who say they’re trying to enforce a constitutional provision that was designed to protect the country from anti-democratic insurrectionists.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, issued the decision Thursday after presiding over an administrative hearing earlier this month about Trump’s eligibility for office. A bipartisan group of former state lawmakers filed the challenge against Trump.
BREAKING:: Maine Secretary of State says Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on 2024 ballot pic.twitter.com/z1cQ9KQfqk
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) December 28, 2023
Here’s what The Hill reported:
Maine’s Secretary of State on Thursday said former President Trump was ineligible to be on the state’s primary ballot under the 14th Amendment, becoming the second state to take such action.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said she had concluded that Trump “over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power.”
In the 34-page decision, she also concluded that Trump “was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it.”
“Mr. Trump’s occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do not immunize his actions,” she said. “A brief call to obey the law does not erase conduct over the course of months, culminating in his speech on the Ellipse. The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multi-month effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match.”
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump should be barred from its primary ballot for the same reasons last week. An appeal to that case is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court.
The Maine decision marks the first time a state official has removed a presidential candidate via the 14th amendment, as the Colorado decision was made by a court.
