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Maine Removes a GOP Candidate From the Ballot — But It’s Not Donald Trump!

After Colorado removed President Trump from the 2024 ballot earlier this week, reports were that Maine was set to rule next….and that we would likely get the ruling on Friday:

Well, today is Friday and we did just get news that a GOP candidate has been removed in Maine…..

But it’s not Donald Trump!

No, it’s Chris Christie….deemed inelible!

There is no truth to the rumors he was expelled for being over the weight limit.

No truth at all.

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CBS News had more details:

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s latest attempt to get on the Maine Republican presidential primary ballot failed Thursday after his campaign tried to recover from a surprising setback in the Super Tuesday state.

Earlier this month, the Maine Secretary of State’s Office said that Christie’s campaign fell short of the necessary number of certified signatures needed from Maine voters to qualify for the state’s Republican presidential primary.

His campaign appealed the decision, but a Maine Superior Court judge sided on Thursday with the secretary of state’s handling of the situation.

“We appreciate that the court upheld the integrity of Maine’s well-established ballot access requirements,” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said in a statement. “Every candidate, including presidential candidates, must follow the law to qualify for the ballot. We are glad that the court recognized that Maine law is workable and fair to all.”

Earlier this month, Maine Director of Elections Heidi M. Peckham said in a letter that Christie’s campaign had only turned in 844 of the minimum 2,000 certified signatures required to appear on the ballot.

Candidates faced a requirement of filing signatures with municipal clerks for certification before submitting them to the secretary of state’s office.

A Christie spokesperson responded at the time that the campaign had gathered 6,000 signatures, arguing it was “simply a procedural issue with the way they reviewed signatures and is under appeal.”

But the arguments put forward by Christie’s campaign failed to change the stance in the Maine case.

In a statement to CBS News Thursday following the ruling, a spokesperson for Christie’s campaign said that “we disagree with the court’s decision, and we are evaluating our options.”

According to the decision by Maine Superior Court Justice Julia M. Lipez, Christie “did not separate petition forms by town, as instructed by the Secretary, or, in the alternative, give himself sufficient time to bring those multi-town signature sheets to the relevant municipalities before the November 20 deadline.”

Christie still has the option to file as a write-candidate in Maine. The deadline to do so is Dec. 26, according to the secretary of state’s office.

And from Newsmax:

Maine Director of Elections Heidi Peckham said this month that the Christie 2024 presidential campaign had only submitted 844 of a required 2,000 certified signatures required to be on the state’s primary ballot, CBS News reported.

Christie’s campaign appealed the decision, but Maine Superior Court Justice Julia Lipez on Thursday said that Christie’s campaign “did not separate petition forms by town, as instructed by the Secretary, or, in the alternative, give himself sufficient time to bring those multi-town signature sheets to the relevant municipalities before the November 20 deadline.”

A Christie spokesperson said that when Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ office made its decision, the campaign had gathered 6,000 signatures and argued that it was “simply a procedural issue with the way they reviewed signatures and is under appeal.”

The Christie campaign on Thursday said it disagrees with the court’s decision and is “evaluating our options.”

“We appreciate that the court upheld the integrity of Maine’s well-established ballot access requirements,” Bellows said in a statement. “Every candidate, including presidential candidates, must follow the law to qualify for the ballot. We are glad that the court recognized that Maine law is workable and fair to all.”

NATIONAL POLL: Should The U.S. Supreme Court Overturn Colorado’s Decision To BAN Trump From The Ballot?

Here was our prior reporting earlier this week:

Another State Expected To Rule On Removing Trump from Ballot This Friday

This just in: The State of Maine is expected to rule on whether or not to keep Trump’s name on the primary election ballot this Friday.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, will make the decision.

Take a look:

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Spectrum News has more details on Maine’s upcoming ruling:

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is expected to rule Friday on whether former President Donald Trump’s name should appear on the Republican primary ballot in March.

Former Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling, a Democrat, and former state Sen. Kimberly Rosen, a Republican, are among those who are challenging whether Trump qualifies under the Constitution to run for office again.

That’s because they say Trump incited insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, during a speech to supporters before they attacked the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the Electoral College votes from being counted.

The Constitution specifically refers to insurrection in the 14th Amendment, saying that “no person” can serve if they previously took the oath of office and “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”

However, it goes on to say that Congress “may” vote to “remove such disability.”

On Friday, both sides laid out their cases at the State House.

“There is no doubt that Donald J. Trump willfully violated his oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution while he was president of the United States,” Mary Anne Royal, a Winterport resident, said during Friday’s hearing. “No person who has taken that oath of office, and then violated that oath so egregiously, can ever be trusted to hold public office again.”

The Boston Globe also reported:

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday removed former president Donald J. Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot and similar challenges have been brought in multiple states, including Maine.

Across the country, dozens of lawsuits have been filed to disqualify Trump under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the disqualification clause, which was crafted to keep former Confederates from returning to government after the Civil War. It prohibits anyone who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it from holding elective office. The measure has been used only a handful of times.

A Trump spokesperson said the Colorado ruling “attacks the very heart of this nation’s democracy. It will not stand, and we trust that the Supreme Court will reverse this unconstitutional order.”

In Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows was initially expected to rule Friday on whether Trump’s name should appear on that state’s primary ballot in March, Spectrum News reported.

Court officials said later in the day Wednesday that Bellows, in light of the Colorado ruling, was inviting the Maine parties to file supplemental briefs by Thursday night at 8 p.m. In light of that invitation and additional “technical difficulties” her office is contending with, her ruling is now slated to come early next week, officials said.

Attorneys for the advocates seeking to bar Trump from the ballot, including former Democratic Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling and former GOP state Senator Kimberly Rosen, squared off last week against lawyers for Trump at State House hearing, the network reported.

“The challengers have the burden of providing sufficient evidence to invalidate the petition,” Bellows’s office said in a statement before last week’s hearing. “At the hearing there will be an opportunity for both the challengers and the candidate to present oral testimony of witnesses as well as additional documentary evidence, and to make oral argument pertaining to the challenge in light of that evidence.”

One of the complaints filed in the Maine matter says Trump “engaged in insurrection” against the US Constitution and “is now ineligible to hold any office, civil or military, under the United States.”

The complaint adds that because “Trump is not eligible to hold the office of President of the United States, his declaration is false, and his consent and primary petitions are void.”

Advocates allege that Trump incited the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol and allowed the violence to rage for hours. He faces a separate criminal indictment for his alleged role in the insurrection, one of four criminal cases he currently faces. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and decried the various proceedings against him as a political witch hunt.

Maine is not the only state considering kicking Trump off the ballot following Colorado’s decision to interfere in the election process.

At least 6 other states are looking into following suit.

Here’s a quick update on how it’s going in those states:

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