Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is officially off Maine’s ballot following a decision from a state superior court judge on Thursday.
The presidential hopeful faced an uphill battle to get onto Maine’s Republican presidential nomination ballot after Secretary of State Shenna Bellows declared earlier this month that Christie did not have enough voter signatures to qualify for the state ballot.
Christie did not “separate petition forms by town, as instructed by the Secretary, or, in the alternative, give himself sufficient time to bring those multi-town signature sheets to the relevant municipalities before the November 20 deadline,” Superior Court Justice Julia M. Lipez said Thursday, according to a report from CBS News.
Presidential primary candidates must file at least 2,000 signatures with the secretary of state’s office to appear on the ballot. Christie’s campaign reportedly turned in 844.
Christie still has time before Dec. 26 to file as a write-in candidate with the Maine secretary of state’s office.
