Maine Secretary of State Tries to Keep Trump and Kennedy off the Ballot

By Leah Watson, The Kennedy Beacon

On February 21, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team filed a lawsuit against Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. The lawsuit claims that Bellows revoked Kennedy’s permission to petition (and gather signatures) at the polls during the presidential primaries, to be held in Maine on March 5. That prohibition, the Kennedy suit states, is an unconstitutional violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. 

In the introduction of his Maine lawsuit, Kennedy refers to Bellows as a “Democrat partisan hack, disinterested in the rule of law, basic constitutional protections, in favor of peacocking around as the lap dog of an incompetent, desperate, senile President.” 

Bellows took his cue from Colorado. Following the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision last December to ban former president Trump from appearing on the Colorado electoral ballot, Bellows also barred Trump from Maine’s electoral ballot. Bellows removed Trump on the grounds that he committed an “insurrection” on January 6, even though he has never been convicted or criminally charged for such an offense. Those decisions, however, are both in limbo, pending a US Supreme Court decision. 

Kennedy opposed the Colorado Supreme Court ruling against Trump and other government interventions to keep a candidate off the ballot. On December 19, Kennedy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he hopes “the Colorado Supreme Court swiftly reverses this decision. At the very least, it contributes to the perception that the elites are picking the president by manipulating the legal system, and through other interventions.”

Bellows’ decision to prohibit Kennedy petitioners from gathering signatures can be perceived as yet another attempt to manipulate the legal system and violate voter rights.

To qualify for the Maine presidential ballot, Kennedy is required to submit a nomination petition along with 4,000 signatures by August 1. The process of gathering signatures to qualify for the ballot in all 50 states seems an insurmountable challenge, but one the campaign has been resolutely pursuing. 

Until recently, the Kennedy petitioners had been told they were allowed to petition at the polls. According to the lawsuit, on February 12, Maine town clerks were ordered to block Kennedy campaign workers from collecting presidential nomination signatures inside polling facilities. The block was put in place because, according to the lawsuit, Bellows claimed the petitioning “threatened to unduly influence the voters.” However, according to the counterargument, campaigning to get Kennedy on the presidential ballot in November is not a force of influence on voters’ decisions in the Democratic or Republican primaries in March, since Kennedy is not in the primary race.

Bellows responded to Kennedy’s lawsuit as reported by WGME, saying that “Maine law is very clear: within the voting place itself, a person may not influence another person’s decision regarding a candidate for an office or question that is on the ballot for the election that day. That’s why no presidential campaign can collect signatures on presidential primary day.” She invited Kennedy to collect signatures at the next statewide election in June, as the presidential candidates will not appear on that ballot. 

The lawsuit alleges that Republican and Democratic candidates have been allowed to petition at the polls in Maine, noting that in November 2023 the state allowed presidential primary candidates to do so.

Maine uses ranked-choice voting – a system that may have benefits for third-party or independent candidates like Kennedy because it eliminates the “spoiler” effect, according to Dave Heller writing in The Kennedy Beacon. 

However, Kennedy must first get on the ballot. The petitioners seek to give people more options, and the ability to choose the candidate they align with most.

Leah Watson is a writer and currently a reporter for The Kennedy Beacon. She has contributed articles to the Rangeley Highlander and is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.