The Maine legislature voted down efforts on Tuesday to oust the state’s election official who removed former President Donald Trump from the ballot in December, The Associated Press reported.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows removed Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The Democratic-controlled state legislature shut down a Republican-led impeachment resolution against Bellows in an 80-60 vote, according to the AP. (RELATED: Appeals Court Pushes Back On Trump’s Presidential Immunity Claim)
Bellows reportedly watched the impeachment proceedings in real-time from Maine’s legislature gallery, according to the AP. She said that she would follow any legal ruling regarding the decision, which was appealed in early January.
Impeachment Order for SOS Bellows is on the House Calendar today. I look forward to a vigorous debate as to why a Biden Elector didn’t need to recuse herself from the entire process of attempting to bar President Trump from the ballot. pic.twitter.com/TyQoDx6KvI
— Mike Soboleski for Congress (@mike_soboleski) January 9, 2024
Legal experts have expressed concern that Bellows’ decision is without merit. The sole decision removes the ability to vote for Trump for the 300,000 Maine voters who supported the former president in the 2020 presidential election, Republicans argue, according to the AP.
Colorado is the only other state to have removed Trump from the ballot. The state’s Supreme Court ruled in December in a 4-3 decision that the former president violated the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist” ban.
The federal Supreme Court will hear Trump’s appeal against Colorado’s decision in February.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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