US state of Maine blocks Trump from its presidential primary
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Maine's Democratic Secretary of State is barring former President Donald Trump from the state's primary ballot.
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Former President Donald Trump arrives for a New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. (AP)
On Friday at dawn, Maine's chief election official disqualified Donald Trump from the state ballot in the upcoming US presidential primary election next year. This decision makes Maine the second state to exclude the former president due to his involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Democrat Shenna Bellows, Maine's Secretary of State, determined that Trump, the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination, incited an insurrection. This conclusion is based on his dissemination of false voter fraud claims in the 2020 election, followed by "encouraging supporters to march on the Capitol to impede the certification of the vote by lawmakers".
Bellows suspended her decision until the state supreme court ruled on the matter.
The ruling followed a recommendation from a coalition of former Maine lawmakers who argued that Trump should be disqualified. They invoked a provision of the US Constitution preventing individuals from holding office if they participated in "insurrection or rebellion" after previously swearing allegiance to the United States.
The decision, subject to appeal in a state court, specifically impacts the March primary election. However, its consequences may extend to Donald Trump's eligibility for the November general election.
This comes after an appeals court in Colorado on December 20 ruled that Trump cannot appear on the state's presidential primary ballot because of his involvement in the attack on the Capitol in January 2021.
The ruling, which only applies to the Colorado primary ballot, was the first of several legal actions across the country, aimed at invoking the US Constitution's 14th Amendment, which bars from office anyone formerly sworn to protect the country who later engages in insurrection.
"A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado wrote.
