{"id":2191747,"date":"2024-03-04T06:07:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T11:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/super-tuesday-maine-rankled-by-trump-ballot-access-and-ranked-choice-revolt\/"},"modified":"2024-03-04T06:07:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T11:07:46","slug":"super-tuesday-maine-rankled-by-trump-ballot-access-and-ranked-choice-revolt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/super-tuesday-maine-rankled-by-trump-ballot-access-and-ranked-choice-revolt\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine upset by Trump&#8217;s ballot access and ranked choice rebellion on Super Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsuper-tuesday-maine-rankled-by-trump-ballot-access-and-ranked-choice-revolt%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2191747&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Maine&#8217;s\u200c Unique Presidential Primary<\/h2>\n<p>Maine is one \u200dof two Super Tuesday\u2062 states \u2062where voters \u2063may face a unique situation &#8211; they may not ultimately be allowed to vote for former President \u2064Donald Trump.\u2063 Along with\u200b Colorado&#8217;s\u2063 Supreme \u2062Court, Maine&#8217;s elected officials have\u2064 determined\u2062 that Trump is ineligible for Tuesday&#8217;s ballot, citing the 14th Amendment clause barring\u200c those who have &#8220;engaged \u200cin insurrection&#8221; from holding federal office.<\/p>\n<p>However, there&#8217;s an added wrinkle \u200dto the situation. Maine approved ranked choice voting for its elections in 2016, yet \u2064the state&#8217;s Republican Party has officially \u2063said it won&#8217;t recognize election results\u2062 using\u200b that system. This has created a\u2064 complex scenario for the upcoming primary.<\/p>\n<h3>The \u2064Role of Maine Secretary \u200dof\u200b State<\/h3>\n<p>Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, \u2062a Democrat,\u2064 ruled in December that Trump could not appear on the\u2064 ballot\u200c due\u200d to the 14th\u200d Amendment. However, that decision \u200chas been \u2062stayed pending\u2064 action by the Supreme Court, which will make a final determination as soon as\u200b Monday. As a result, Trump&#8217;s name is currently on the ballot and has been \u2064since\u200d early voting\u200c began on February 5.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200b state\u200c GOP has reminded\u200c its\u2064 voters of this fact, urging them to go out and vote. However, if Trump&#8217;s name is \u2062later removed, the Secretary of \u2063State&#8217;s\u200c office has stated that votes for him &#8220;would simply be treated\u2062 as blanks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>The \u2062Controversy Surrounding Ranked Choice Voting<\/h3>\n<p>Republicans are\u2062 generally skeptical of ranked choice voting, which involves dropping lower-performing candidates from the results and adding their voters&#8217; second choices to the \u200dtabulations. This process continues until the top candidate \u200csurpasses 50% and is declared the winner. Ranked choice \u200dballots offer voters \u2064the chance to pick second and third choices.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly,\u2064 Trump&#8217;s legal \u2063team \u2062has praised Maine&#8217;s ranked choice \u200cvoting system, arguing that it eliminates any harm if Trump is ultimately \u2064disqualified. They believe that\u2063 if \u200cthe Supreme \u200cCourt finds\u2063 against Trump, Maine officials can retabulate the ranked choice ballots to determine \u200dthe winner by \u200dconsidering the second and subsequent choice candidates.<\/p>\n<h3>The State \u200dGOP&#8217;s Stance<\/h3>\n<p>Maine&#8217;s \u2062state GOP has long stated that it will \u2064not recognize ranked choice voting and\u2063 will only \u2062tabulate first-choice ballots. The Secretary of State&#8217;s office supports this stance, \u200das\u2063 it is the ultimate decider\u2063 of delegates \u2063to \u2063the Republican National Convention.<\/p>\n<p>State GOP chairman Joel Stetkis believes\u200c that the Supreme Court will keep Trump&#8217;s name \u200bon the ballot. However, he also alluded \u2063to the party&#8217;s flexibility at the nominating convention, indicating that they will take whatever \u2063steps necessary to ensure their voters can vote for the person they legally choose.<\/p>\n<h3>Outrage and Disenfranchisement<\/h3>\n<p>Other Republicans,\u2063 including Senator Tommy\u200c Tuberville, have expressed outrage at \u2064the decisions\u200c made in \u200bMaine\u200d and \u2063Colorado. They argue that removing\u2063 Trump\u200c from the ballots \u200cundermines democracy and disenfranchises voters.<\/p>\n<p>Despite \u200cthe controversy,\u2064 Maine \u200copened early voting\u2063 on February 5\u200d and will \u2064begin tabulating ballots on \u2063the night of March 5. Polls indicate that Trump\u2063 is leading in Maine&#8217;s Republican Primary, with a \u200dsignificant margin\u2062 over other \u2064candidates, including Nikki\u200c Haley. Trump is also leading President Joe Biden in some polling.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How might \u200dthe current situation in Maine&#8217;s presidential primary impact the\u2064 final \u2064results and the voters&#8217; \u2064perception of the election process<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Maine&#8217;s\u2062 Unique Presidential Primary<\/p>\n<p>Maine is \u2064one of \u200btwo\u2064 Super Tuesday states where\u2064 voters may face \u200ba unique\u200c situation &#8211; they may not \u2063ultimately be allowed to vote for former President Donald Trump. Along with Colorado&#8217;s Supreme Court, Maine&#8217;s elected officials have determined that Trump is ineligible for Tuesday&#8217;s ballot, citing \u200cthe 14th Amendment clause barring those who have &#8220;engaged in \u200dinsurrection&#8221; from\u200d holding\u2063 federal office.<\/p>\n<p>However, there&#8217;s an added wrinkle \u2062to the situation. Maine approved \u200cranked \u200cchoice voting for its elections \u200din 2016, yet the state&#8217;s Republican\u200b Party has officially said it won&#8217;t recognize election results using that system. This has created a complex scenario for the upcoming primary.<\/p>\n<p>Maine Secretary of State Shenna\u2063 Bellows, \u200ba Democrat, ruled in December that Trump could\u2064 not appear on \u200dthe ballot \u2062due to the 14th Amendment. However, that decision has been stayed pending action by the Supreme Court, which will \u200dmake a final determination as \u2062soon as Monday. As a result, Trump&#8217;s name \u200cis\u200b currently on the ballot and has been since early voting began on February 5.<\/p>\n<p>The state GOP \u200bhas reminded its voters of this\u200b fact, urging them to go out\u200b and vote. However, if Trump&#8217;s name is later removed, the Secretary of State&#8217;s office has stated\u200b that votes for\u2064 him &#8220;would simply be treated as blanks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The controversy surrounding ranked choice voting further\u200d complicates matters. The Republican\u200d Party&#8217;s\u2062 refusal to \u200crecognize election results using this system \u200badds another layer of uncertainty and potential disputes. With ranked \u2064choice\u200c voting, voters rank their preferred candidates in order,\u200d and if no candidate receives a majority in the first round, the candidate\u200d with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates. \u2063This continues \u200cuntil a candidate\u200d receives a majority\u2062 of the votes.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200c unique situation in\u200d Maine&#8217;s presidential primary raises \u200dquestions about the application \u2062of the 14th Amendment, the role of the Secretary of State, and the implications of ranked \u200dchoice voting. As \u200bthe Supreme Court&#8217;s final \u200cdecision looms, voters and \u200dpolitical observers\u200c are \u2064closely watching how this situation\u2064 will unfold and its \u2063potential impact on the primary results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maine, one of two Super Tuesday states, may exclude former President Donald Trump from the ballot. Maine&#8217;s elected officials, like Colorado&#8217;s Supreme Court, have deemed Trump ineligible due to the 14th Amendment clause, which prohibits individuals who have &#8220;engaged in insurrection&#8221; from holding federal office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2635,"featured_media":2191748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24009606357596.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2191747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24009606357596.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2191747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2191748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2191747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2191747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2191747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}