FLASHBACK: Maine secretary of state vowed to fight 'election sabotage' before removing Trump from ballot

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, the official who has declared that Trump is ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot in 2024, was a featured speaker during the 2021 Netroots Nation conference, in which she pledged to fight "election sabotage."

On a panel entitled "SOS: Saving Democracy One Vote At A Time," Bellows, speaking alongside other secretaries of state, said that "election sabotage" is a "crystal clear example of what’s happening in all across the country" at the time, leading up to the midterm election.

"So we need to organize, to make sure we have better leaders in positions of power to fight back against that."

Referring to one of her fellow secretaries of state, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Bellows said "Benson talked about voter suppression and that’s something that when we started our careers at the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center, is fighting back about systemic structural voter repression targeting specifically black and brown voters. It’s rooted in white supremacy."

"That is something we have to continue to do work on," Bellows said, later noting the For the People Act and Freedom to Vote Act, "we must have federal standards all across the country."

"And then finally, just to echo my colleagues, this is rooted in a deliberate attempt, an organized campaign, to discourage people from participating in our democracy. It is an attack on our very democracy itself, because when everyone participates, everything that we care about social justice, climate justice, economic justice, we win. Those on the other side are trying to discourage people from participating. That's what this really is about. We have to fight back to protect our democracy, to protect everything."

Bellows is Maine’s 50th secretary of state, and the first female in the Maine office. She previously served two terms in the state Senate, and was executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine from 2005 to 2013. Bellows initially took office in January of 2021, and was reappointed for another two-year term in December of 2022.

In a 34-page ruling issued Thursday evening, Bellows said that "I conclude that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid. Specifically, I find that the declaration on his candidate consent form is false because he is not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment."

Bellows wrote that she disagrees "with Mr. Trump’s contention that only Congress can adjudicate the qualifications of a Presidential candidate."

She noted that "I am cognizant of the fact that my decision could soon be rendered a nullity by a decision of the United States Supreme Court in Anderson," referring to the Colorado case barring Trump from the ballot, "that possibility does not relieve me of my responsibility to act."

Bellows in November commented on an X thread lamenting that Mississippi had passed new voter ID laws that eliminated same-day registration and made photo ID at polling places mandatory.

Bellows wrote, "This story is horrifying. Incredible to see the lengths at which votes are discarded by partisans. Grateful to be in Maine where our elections are free, fair, and secure."