Former United States President Donald Trump has been kicked off the ballot for the 2024 presidential primary in Maine after a state official determined the Republican frontrunner is ineligible due to his support of insurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, announced the decision to remove Trump from the ballot on Thursday, citing a clause in the US Constitution that bars those who have \u201cengaged in insurrection or rebellion\u201d from holding public office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bellows said that Trump should be considered ineligible to run as the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 had \u201coccurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of\u201d the former president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do not reach this conclusion lightly,\u201d Bellows wrote in a 34-page ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDemocracy is sacred, and the highest court of this State has repeatedly recognized that \u2018no right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we must live.\u2019 I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump campaign said shortly after the announcement that it would challenge the decision in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter,\u201d Trump\u2019s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that described Bellows as a \u201cvirulent leftist and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDemocrats in blue states are recklessly and unconstitutionally suspending the civil rights of the American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump\u2019s name from the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n