Maine’s top elections official has removed Donald Trump from 2024 primary election ballots, marking the second state to disqualify the former president in his bid for the White House for his involvement in the January 6 Capitol riots.
Shenna Bellows, the Maine Secretary of State, said in a filing on Thursday that the former president contributed to riots at the Capitol by using false claims of election fraud and then directing supporters there when Congress was set to certify the 2020 election results.
Advertorial
Hours later, California’s Secretary of State, Dr. Shirley Weber declined to block Mr Trump from the state’s ballot, including his name on a list of certified 2024 candidates to county election officials.
This comes as Colorado Republicans are asking the US Supreme Court to reverse a historic state Supreme Court ruling that removed him from that state’s 2024 ballots.
That request from the state GOP to the nation’s highest court followed the unprecedented ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that found the former president is constitutionally ineligible from holding office for his role engaging with the Capitol riot in 2021.
Trump’s campaign and allies in Congress and in media are furious with a decision from Maine’s top elections official to disqualify him from 2024 ballots, a decision based on challenges to his eligibility under Section 3 of the 14th Amendemnt, which bars candidates who engaged in insurrection from running for office.
Third-ranking House Republican, Elise Stefanik called the decision “illegal” and “corrupt”.
