Staff Reports
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a known left-wing activist and Joe Biden elector, recently made a controversial decision to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot. In a moment that could be described as the pot calling the kettle black, Bellows decided to unilaterally bar Trump from Maine’s ballot, citing the events of January 6, 2021, as the rationale for her decision. This decision, of course, was made on a whim, not through any kind of legal process.
Maine Democrat Official Can't Help But Smile on Anti-Trump Media Victory Lap After Singlehandedly Removing 45 from Ballot via @WestJournalism https://t.co/rmp7KIWzx0
— tnjudy (@Judy16996923) December 29, 2023
During an interview on a liberal news network, Bellows proudly defended her decision, grinning from ear to ear as she boasted about Maine’s high voter turnout. She claimed that the state makes it remarkably easy for people to cast their ballots, even providing same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting up to 30 days prior to Election Day. Of course, she failed to mention anything about ensuring the integrity of the ballots cast.
In a news release, Bellows’ office tried to pass off a so-called “hearing” she presided over as some sort of due process for Trump. However, her decision seems to have been made solely based on her personal bias and political agenda. Bellows even had the audacity to claim that Trump’s occasional calls for peace and support for law enforcement did not excuse his actions. It seems that Bellows has taken it upon herself to play judge, jury, and executioner, deciding that she alone has the authority to bar a presidential candidate from the ballot.
And let’s not forget that Trump has not been convicted or even charged with engaging in an “insurrection.” Even special counsel Jack Smith didn’t see fit to bring such charges against him. So, what is Bellows’s real motive here?
Former George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer and Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins have spoken out against Bellows’s decision, rightly pointing out that it should be the voters, not a politically motivated Secretary of State, who decide who appears on the ballot. Senator Collins, in particular, emphasized that thousands of Mainers deserve the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice without interference from a partisan official.
