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On Thursday Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat , decided to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot for the presidential primaries in this state, based on point three of Article 14 of the Constitution, which deals with cases where a official is not eligible to run for an official post.
With this decision, she becomes the first major official who administers electoral matters, who undertakes a unilateral action, with possible consequences in the general presidential race.
The decision can be appealed to the state Supreme Court, and Ms. Bellows stayed it pending a court ruling on the matter.
Ms. Bellows said Mr. Trump could not run for president again because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, citing Section Three of the 14th Amendment, which bars a sworn official from holding public office. that he will support the Constitution and then he is "engaged in rebellion" against it.
Ms. Bellows made the decision after some state residents, including a bipartisan group of former lawmakers, challenged Mr. Trump's inclusion on the ballot.
Mr. Trump's campaign officials said they would soon file an appeal against the ruling, which they called "cruel."
Mr. Trump's lawyers have contested positions that the former president engaged in rioting on Jan. 6, 2021, and argued that his comments to supporters on the day of the violent attack on the Capitol were protected by the right to free speech.
Ms. Bellows' decision will apply only to the March primary in Maine, but could affect Mr. Trump's status for the November general election. The decision is likely to increase pressure on the nation's Supreme Court to provide an answer to questions raised about whether Mr. Trump is eligible to run for statewide, based on the third clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
Three of the 9 members of the Supreme Court, most of whom have conservative views, were appointed by Mr. Trump.
Former President Trump has been indicted both federally and in the state of Georgia for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election, but he has not been charged with sedition or rebellion in connection with the attack. of January 6. He leads the race within the party to win the official nomination as a presidential candidate, by a wide margin over other Republican candidates.
Earlier, on December 19, the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Mr. Trump from the state's primary election, making him the first candidate in the country's history to be deemed ineligible to run for president because of what the court described it as his involvement in the uprising.
The Colorado Supreme Court's 4-3 decision won't take effect until Jan. 4, the day before ballots are printed for the state's primary election, or until the Supreme Court makes a decision.
Mr. Trump has said he will appeal Colorado's decision to the Supreme Court and has criticized it as "undemocratic." On Wednesday, the Colorado Republican Party filed its appeal with the Supreme Court.
Activist groups and some voters against Mr. Trump have filed lawsuits in several states based on Section Three of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War to keep supporters of the former Confederacy out of government office.
Similar efforts to disqualify Mr. Trump in other states have been rejected by the Supreme Court in Michigan, a general election battleground state, which on Wednesday declined to hear a motion seeking to disqualify Mr. Trump from the election. presidential primaries of this state.
Maine is rated by nonpartisan election-monitoring organizations as a Democratic state, meaning President Joe Biden is likely to win the race in the state. But Mr. Trump won an elector in Maine in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.
A presidential candidate must win 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidential race./ VOA
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