Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, excluded Donald Trump, the former President and presidential candidate, from the primary ballot on December 28. She referenced Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars individuals involved in insurrection from seeking office, as the basis for her decision. Bellows issued the ruling shortly after residents and former lawmakers in Maine contested the inclusion of the conservative leader on the ballot.
The legal team representing Trump urged Maine’s secretary of state to recuse herself, alleging bias based on a sequence of tweets. These tweets from Bellows characterized the Capitol riots as an “insurrection” and expressed regret that the Republican presidential candidate was not impeached by the US Senate.
According to Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, Bellow is a lefty who supports Democratic US President Joe Biden and is a fervent leftist who chose to meddle in the 2024 presidential race. He continued by saying that the whole disenfranchisement of US voters is presently taking place, along with an attempt to pilfer an election event.
The former commander in chief was removed from the Colorado ballot on December 19 due to a decision rendered by the state’s Supreme Court. Since Colorado is a blue state and isn’t anticipated to be competitive for the Republican nominee, some political observers predicted that the decision wouldn’t have a significant impact on the outcome of the presidential election.
Maine is one of the two US states that divides the electoral votes, despite having just four. Having Trump removed off the ballot might have a significant impact on the presidential race if he gets the nomination since he would begin the campaign trailing by one Electoral College vote, given that he earned one of the state’s electors back in 2020.
Numerous other states are witnessing same legal disputes as activists have formally requested that Trump be removed from the primary ballots in their jurisdictions. Legal experts predict that the subject will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court, which may lead to heightened political unrest across the country.
