2 months ago
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by Emma Davis, Maine Morning Star
Absentee voting is underway for the March 5 presidential primary elections in Maine.
The Democratic and Republican parties are holding primaries, and there is also a special election for part of South Portland: House District 122. The no-excuse absentee voting period continues through Feb. 29, which includes mail-in and in-person absentee voting at town and city halls.
The candidates on the Democratic ballot include President Joe Biden and Dean Phillips. Stephen Lyons is also a declared write-in for the Democratic race.
While Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy have since dropped out of the Republican race for president, they will remain on Maine’s ballot unless their campaigns notify the Secretary of State that they have withdrawn from the race. The other candidates on the Republican ballot include Ryan Binkley, Nikki Haley, and former President Donald Trump — though Trump’s eligibility has been questioned.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, disqualified Trump from Maine’s Republican primary ballot in December under the “insurrection clause” of the U.S. Constitution because of his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Maine was the second state to disqualify Trump under this clause after Colorado.
Trump promptly appealed the decision to the Maine Superior Court, which punted the question back to Bellows and ordered her to issue a new ruling once the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the Colorado case. Despite numerous appeals, Maine’s top court has maintained the decision to await the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Oral arguments for the Supreme Court case took place Thursday.
