“I do not reach this conclusion lightly,” says Sec. of State Shenna Bellows. “I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”
Maine’s Democrat Secretary of State unilaterally removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot pending a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to block Trump from elections.
Without a judge, jury, or due process, Sec. of State Shenna Bellows removed Joe Biden’s biggest political rival from her state’s 2024 ballot on Wednesday.
“I do not reach this conclusion lightly,” Bellows wrote in her 34-page decision. “I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows issued this decision regarding three challenges brought by Maine voters to the nomination petitions of Donald J. Trump for the Republican primary for the President of the United States. Read the decision here: https://t.co/dCwJsC6HN9
— MaineSOS (@MESecOfState) December 28, 2023
This comes a week after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Trump would not appear on its ballot, claiming he violated the 14th Amendment by engaging in an “insurrection” on January 6, 2021.
Trump’s team called Bellows a “virulent leftist hyper-partisan Biden supporting Democrat” who is running interference for “Crooked Joe Biden.”
This is Shenna Bellows, the Maine Secretary of State who just removed Trump from the ballot.
She said the right of every American to vote freely and fairly is the premise of our democracy.
By her own standards, she is the real threat to our democracy! pic.twitter.com/V66SWbVxUC
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 29, 2023
“The Maine Secretary of State is…a virulent leftist hyper-partisan…who has decided to interfere in the presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden. We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and disenfranchisement of the American voter,” Trump spokesman Steve Cheung said in a statement.
“The Maine Secretary of State is…a virulent leftist hyper-partisan…who has decided to interfere in the presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden. We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and disenfranchisement of the American voter.” pic.twitter.com/gNcueiLYSc
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) December 29, 2023
“Democrats in blue states are recklessly and unconstitutionally suspending the civil rights of American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump’s name from the ballot. Make no mistake, these partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy. Biden and the Democrats simply do not trust the American voter in a free and fair election and are now relying on the force of government institutions to protect their grip on power.”
Trump’s statement also highlighted that similar efforts to weaponize the 14th Amendment have been overturned in Michigan, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.
“We will quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect, and President Trump will never stop fighting to Make America Great Again,” Cheung concluded.
Bellows unilateral decision to remove Trump from Maine’s ballot also appears to contradict remarks she has repeatedly made about “democracy” in the past.
“It shouldn’t be up to the Governor or any other one person whether or not you have the right to vote,” Bellows wrote on X last March in response to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin changing state policy to restore the voting rights of convicted felons.
The woman who just took Trump off the ballot in Maine: pic.twitter.com/IM8ym6kT6o
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) December 29, 2023
“We are proud that in Maine every citizen has the right to vote regardless of current or former incarceration,” she added.
And in January 2022 Bellows wrote, “The fundamental right of any American citizen to vote freely, fairly and to have their vote counted is the premise of our democracy. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not values to be compromised away.”
The fundamental right of any American citizen to vote freely, fairly and to have their vote counted is the premise of our democracy. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not values to be compromised away. #FreedomToVoteAct
— Shenna Bellows (@shennabellows) January 5, 2022
The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to keep Trump off the ballot has been stayed until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether the former president is barred by the 14th Amendment which prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
Meanwhile, Democrats in New York and California are also scheming to keep Trump off their respective state’s 2024 presidential primary ballots on behalf of Joe Biden.
Read Bellows’ decision:
