Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows removed her objection to former President Donald Trump’s name appearing on Tuesday’s primary ballots in response to a Monday U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning a similar ruling in Colorado.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices found that states do not have the power to enforce Section 3 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which does not allow those who have engaged in insurrection and previously taken the oath of office to serve again.
Bellows, a Democrat appointed by lawmakers to her post in late 2020, ruled late last year that Trump’s name could not appear on Maine’s GOP primary ballot because she believed he engaged in insurrection during the Jan. 6, 2021attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
However, she stayed her ruling in anticipation of a legal challenge, so when voting began in Maine 30 days prior to Tuesday’s primary, Trump’s name appeared on ballots.
But on Monday, within hours of the Supreme Court decision, she reversed course.
“I have reviewed the Anderson decision carefully,” Bellows said in a statement. “Consistent with my oath and obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and pursuant to the Anderson decision, I hereby withdraw my determination that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid.”
The Supreme Court decision comes just one day before Maine voters and those in 14 other states head to the polls to choose party nominees for president. Bellows decision raised the prospect that votes cast for Trump would not be counted, but her office made it clear Monday that Trump’s ballots will be tallied.
The Supreme Court decision, which was directly related to a ruling by a Colorado court to remove Trump from ballots there, applies in Maine and Illinois, another state that recently ruled Trump ineligible.
The Maine Republican Party celebrated the decision.
“Bellows tried to win the election for Joe Biden via bureaucratic coup and she has lost at every level of the Maine and U.S. legal system,” the party said in a statement.
Democrats said they “commended” Bellows for her original decision but acknowledged that it had been overturned by the highest court in the country.
“Our focus has always been on connecting with Maine voters in their communities and defeating Donald Trump at the ballot box,” the Maine Democratic Party said in a statement.