Maine’s secretary of state has removed Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the US constitution’s insurrection clause, becoming the first election official to take action unilaterally in a decision that has potential Electoral College consequences.
While Maine has just four electoral votes, it is one of two states to split them.
The former president won one of Maine’s electors in 2020, so having him off the ballot there should he emerge as the Republican general election candidate could have major implications in a race that is expected to be narrowly decided.
The decision by Democratic secretary of state Shenna Bellows follows a December ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that removed Mr Trump from the ballot there under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Colorado is a Democratic-leaning state which is not expected to be competitive for Republicans in November.
Ms Bellows found that Mr Trump could no longer run for president because his role in the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol violated Section 3, which bans from office those who “engaged in insurrection”.
She made the ruling after some state residents, including a bipartisan group of former legislators, challenged his position on the ballot.
In her 34-page decision, Ms Bellow said: “I do not reach this conclusion lightly.
“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.”
She acknowledged that the US Supreme Court will probably have the final word but said it was important she did her official duty.
Mr Trump’s campaign immediately criticised the ruling.
Spokesman Steven Cheung said: “We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter.”
At least one Republican politician has vowed to pursue impeachment against Ms Bellows despite long odds in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
Ms Bellows said on Friday that she had no comment on the impeachment effort, but said she was duty-bound by state law to make a determination on three challenges brought by registered Maine voters.
She reiterated that she suspended her decision pending an anticipated appeal by Mr Trump in Superior Court.
“Under Maine law, I have not only the authority but the obligation to act,” she said. “I will follow the Constitution and the rule of law as directed by the courts.”
