Maine’s top election official, Interior Affairs Secretary Shenna Bellows, ruled Thursday that the former President Donald Trump would be removed from the state’s presidential primary ballot next year.
This decision came after a Colorado Supreme Court Decision earlier this month, which disqualified Trump from the state’s ballot due to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Colorado decision was held extraordinary because it was the first time that Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was applied to disqualify a former president.
This decision was not implemented and was suspended until Supreme Court of the United States decides whether Trump is excluded under the amendment, which bars those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
The article was written after the Civil War to prevent former Confederate officers from returning to government.
Trump campaign criticizes Maine decision
The decision by Bellows, a Democrat, is the first by an election official to unilaterally disqualify the former president.
The Trump campaign immediately criticized the decision, with campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung saying in a statement that “we are witnessing, in real time, an attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the ‘American voter’.
The Trump campaign has said it will appeal Bellows’ decision to the Maine state court system, and it is likely the nation’s highest court will have the final say on whether Trump attends the ballot in this state and other states.
I didn’t “come to a conclusion lightly,” says Bellows
Bellows believed Trump could no longer run for office because of his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying she did not “come to this conclusion lightly.”
In her 34-page ruling, Bellows wrote: “I am aware that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access on the basis of Section 3.
of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, I am also aware that no presidential candidate has ever engaged in an insurrection. »
rm/jsi (Reuters, AP)
