United States: Maine’s top election official has disqualified former US President, Mr. Donald Trump, from running for office in the state’s US presidential primary next year as a result of the Capitol riots. This makes Maine the second state to do so.
Ms. Shenna Bellows, the secretary of state for Maine, declared that Mr. Trump had incited an uprising when he disseminated untrue allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 election and then called on his followers to demonstrate in front of the Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
“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 14th Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection,” Ms. Bellows wrote in her decision.
The decision, which is only applicable to the March primary election and is subject to appeal to a state court, may have an impact on Mr. Trump’s candidacy in the November general election.
The 14th Amendment’s Section 3 forbids anyone who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and afterward “engaged in insurrection” against it from holding public office, so this move will probably increase the pressure on the US Supreme Court to decide Mr. Trump’s eligibility for office nationwide.
Regarding his involvement in attempting to rig the 2020 election, Mr. Trump has been charged in federal court as well as in Georgia; however, he has not been charged with insurrection in connection with the attack on January 6, 2023.
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