Maine election officer excludes Trump from ballot

Yesterday Shenna Bellows, Secretary of State for Maine, unilaterally excluded President Donald J. Trump from the Republican primary ballot. She did so after ruling – again, unilaterally – that Trump “engaged in insurrection [and] rebellion.” But, like the Colorado Supreme Court before her, she suspended her decision pending any State court appeals.

The Maine ruling – and background

Secretary of State Bellows acted on three challenges by registered voters. Maine plans new “semi-open primaries,” so none of the voters had to be registered Republicans. Two of the challenges accused Trump of insurrection, and one of these cited Amendment XIV Section 3. The third said, because Trump explicitly said he won the Election of 2020, Amendment XXII bars him from running again.

Bellows denied the Amendment XXII challenge as moot, because, she says, Trump didn’t win. (In any event, no one disputes that he did not take the oath of office a second time on January 20, 2021.) But she held that Trump did indeed engage in an unlawful act of incitement to insurrection. She based that entirely on her interpretation of his public statements, as Newsweek reported today. But she suspended that removal in case Trump decided to appeal through Maine’s courts.

CNN reported that Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump campaign, accused Bellows of election interference. He also cited her bias against Trump and for Joe Biden, now installed as President. (Jim Hoft at The Gateway Pundit has the full statement.)

The Maine Secretary of State is a former ACLU attorney, a virulent leftist and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat who has decided to interfere in the presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden.

Hoft also reported that Maine State Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) has already initiated impeachment proceedings against Bellows.

Evidence of bias

That bias is certainly well-founded. Cullen Linebarger broke the story at TGP. Mike LaChance reminded everyone that Bellows attended the 2017 Women’s March, while still a State Senator.

Anthony Scott reported that Bellows has attended two Biden White House functions, in March and June.

This morning, Linebarger quoted an ironic hashtag Bellows used in the fall of 2020: #LetThePeopleDecide.

(The “Brandon” here is Brandon Bellows, Shenna’s husband.)

Other conservatives picked up on that hashtag last night.

Meanwhile, Newsweek reports today that several legal experts decried the ruling. Here is one example:

Newsweek also quoted CNN’s senior legal analyst, Elie Honig, as questioning the fairness of the hearing Bellows held. This was definitely not a trial, because she heard from one witness – a law professor giving his opinion of Amendment XIV Section 3 and how it applies to Trump.

Whether and when Trump appeals Bellows’ decision in Maine courts, remains to be seen. But Trump has already petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to exclude him from the ballot in that State. Trump will remain on the Colorado Republican primary ballot until the Supreme Court acts.