The Maine House voted 80-60 along party lines to reject a Republican effort to impeach the state's Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, over her decision to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot. Donald Trump will not be taking any victory laps today. Sad!
ABC News reports:
Bellows, who watched the entire proceeding from the gallery, vowed to abide by any legal ruling on her decision to keep Trump off Maine's March 5 primary ballot, which is under appeal in Maine Superior Court.
Republicans are furious over Bellows' conclusion that the GOP frontrunner shouldn't be on the ballot. They argued that her decision disenfranchised the more than 300,000 voters in Maine who chose Trump in the last election.
GOP Rep. Michael Soboleski, of Phillips, called the secretary’s action “election interference of the highest order” and a fellow Republican, Rep. James Thorne, of Carmel, said it “does nothing but further divide the political banner between the parties, and indeed the people of the state of Maine.”
“There has been no conviction in a court of law. She is not a judge. She is not a jury. And I believe that the people feel absolutely disenfranchised,” added Rep. Katrina Smith, a Republican from Palermo.
But they had faced long odds in seeking retribution against the Democrat.
The proposal called for a panel to investigate Bellows' actions and report back to the 151-member House. If the proposal had moved forward — and there had been an impeachment vote — then there would have been a trial in the 35-member Senate, where Democrats also have a majority.
Democratic Rep. Kevin O’Connell, of Brewer, said Bellows “faithfully discharged her oath of office.” He called her “an honorable person” who should not be removed from office for “simply doing her job.”
"If people disagree with the decision, the proper venue for resolving that disagreement is with the courts. And indeed Mr. Trump has appealed to Superior Court. If people disagree with the authority delegated to the secretary under Maine election law, the proper venue is for the legislature to amend the law," Bellows said following the vote.
They wanted to impeach Bellows for upholding the law. She was previously targeted with threats:
