On May 12, 2021, the Maine Secretary of State’s Office announced that former President Donald J. Trump will no longer be eligible to appear on the 2024 presidential primary ballot in Maine due to disqualifying language in a state law that allows the Secretary of State to reject “candidates found unsuitable to the elective process” and because of Trump’s role in the insurrection attempt in Washington DC on January 6, 2021.
The move came after the Legislature passed a bill that required the Secretary of State to “remove any candidate from the primary ballot if they were involved in the inciting of an insurrection or a violent attack on the United States government or any of its property.”
The law justifies the Maine Secretary of State’s Office decision, noting that the former president was directly involved in the insurrection at the Capitol, as he made statements encouraging it and refused to condemn the rioters.
The Maine Secretary of State’s Office stressed, however, that its removal of President Trump from the ballot does not prevent him from running in other states or from potentially running as a write-in candidate in Maine. The decision is specific to Maine and does not impact elections in other states.
