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Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor is the Republican leader in the Maine House of Representatives.
By now, you’ve certainly been inundated with headlines, social media posts and messages about Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and her move to engage in what I view as voter suppression. Denying former President Donald Trump ballot access would suppress the choice of thousands of Maine voters. It’s not just about one candidate; it’s about all of us.
While keeping candidates off the ballot is something you may only hear about in faraway lands, authoritarian dictatorships and banana republics, it’s an unfortunate historical reality in America. For example, Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in several Southern states in the 1860 election, and unfortunately, race-based voter suppression was common in the Jim Crow South.
Regardless how you feel about Trump — or any candidate that qualifies for the ballot — we are a nation of laws and generally citizens need to be convicted of crimes in order to face legal consequences to have their rights curtailed. As a nation of laws, we don’t throw people in jail because we don’t like them, and we certainly don’t deny them ballot access for the same reason.
To me, this looks like a political stunt. Beginning with the petitions filed by politicians to remove Trump from the ballot, it has been so poorly executed that even some people who voted to impeach Trump have come out against this edict by Bellows. U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, as well as U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, have all released statements throwing cold water on her anti-democratic move. They suggest it has no legal basis, and it will likely fail miserably in court. Voter suppression is anti-American.
We expected our chief elections officer to provide objective administration and oversight of our electoral process. We do not appreciate political stunts from officials who are in charge of administering our elections. Frankly, I believe Mainers have lost confidence in her judgment.
Unfortunately, this is an expected result because the secretary of state does not answer to Mainers. Rather than being elected by more than 670,000 Mainers who voted in 2022, the secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer and auditor are selected by about 100 party insiders at the State House. When you’re voted in by partisans, you’re likely to answer to them.
The only way we can ensure this does not happen again is to ensure the secretary of state is elected by Mainers. House Republicans have put in several bills over the years to make this a reality, but they have been thwarted by those same party insiders who have installed politicians like Bellows in the first place. Republicans will back such legislation again in the future.
Voting Republican in 2024 could help ensure Mainers can choose their own secretary of state; one that works for them and answers to them, and not one that makes potentially unconstitutional decisions for them.
