“I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.” – Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023.

The problem is, this is merely an opinion.

A secretary of state, bound by the Constitution, does not make rulings based on personal beliefs, rather according to the rule of law. There has been no conviction, no crime. In America, we are governed by the presumption of innocence, and I believe it is a dereliction of duty for a high-ranking public official to go against that doctrine. Not even Special Counsel Jack Smith found grounds to charge Donald Trump with insurrection, and I believe he would have if the evidence was there.

Where does a knee-jerk reaction of such magnitude end, and what negative actions will it provoke? What if both parties in every election began eliminating its competition in this way? Would public officials then elect our president based on opinion, replacing the people’s vote at the ballot box? I can’t think of anything more harmful to our republic. While there are those who will rejoice at Secretary Bellows’ decision, it is the dangerous precedent it sets that they should fear.

There is an opinion among many that President Biden has committed crimes. The point I’m making by raising this is that these are only allegations yet to be proven. There are also allegations more difficult to challenge because they appear to go directly against our Constitution. For example, endangering our national security by allowing open access? Or aiding and abetting an enemy by providing financial assistance to Iran? Should our secretary of state remove Biden’s name from our ballot also?

These are important questions in light of recent developments. Now I’ll give my opinion, and that’s all it is.

Ms. Bellows should resign for making such a rash decision that would affect the precious voting rights of every Maine resident. In America, anyone who qualifies according to the Constitution can run for president, no matter their politics or political beliefs. The Constitution provides only three requirements; candidates must be a natural born citizens, be aged 35 or older and have lived in the country for at least 14 years.

The point is we, the voters, decide our president, and any interference by Maine’s secretary of state, who is not even a publicly elected official, is nothing more than just that, interference – if not laying the groundwork for her desire to run for a higher office. By not waiting for a decision by the Supreme Court, Ms. Bellows has received her 15 minutes of fame. One has to wonder.