Christie's Court Action in Maine is Disqualifying

The rules apply to everyone, and Christie's Maine lawsuit makes him little different from Trump in this regard.

Chris Christie’s campaign failed to qualify for the Republican Presidential Primary ballot in Maine. His response? Go to court.

The presidential campaign of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is appealing a decision by Maine election officials denying him a spot on the Republican primary ballot.

Maine’s secretary of state said Christie’s campaign fell more than 1,100 signatures short of the 2,000 it needed to qualify for the March 5 primary. But in an appeal filed last week, Christie’s campaign said it submitted more than 3,100 signatures before the late-November deadline but that he was denied because of a “minor administrative procedural requirement.”

Based on the court filing, it appears that Christie’s campaign was counting on municipal clerks to verify the signatures of voters not only in their own towns but also other municipalities.

But that is not how the process typically works in Maine. Instead, the law only requires that clerks certify signatures of voters from that town. Candidates are not prohibited from filing petition sheets with voters from multiple towns. But guidance from the secretary of state’s office advises candidates to file separate petition forms for each municipality “for ease of municipal verification of voters.”

In their appeal, attorneys for Christie suggest that clerks could have verified voters from other towns using the state’s central voter registration system and that directing clerks to do such “would be an extremely low burden.”

I’m not here to debate the arcana of Maine’s ballot qualification system,

Jim Fossel

can do that. But Christie’s inability to navigate the ballot qualification process shows a lack of organizational planning that makes it questionable whether he could adequately serve as President.

But Christie going to court over the matter shows a complete and utter arrogance that the rules don’t apply to him and his campaign. Six other candidates successfully navigated the process in Maine (Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Doug Burgum and Ryan Binkley). You’re trying to tell me that Christie’s campaign was impeded by a “minor administrative procedural” issue when six other candidates weren’t.

In a legal sense, Christie’s attempt to circumvent the rules to get on the ballot really isn’t that much different than Trump’s attempts to overturn election results in dozens of states following the 2020 Presidential Election. Considering the entire raison d'être of Christie’s campaign was because he didn’t support Trump’s attempts to overturn the election, that makes this effort in Maine extremely hypocritical.

Chirstie’s campaign slogan this go around has been “Because the Truth Matters.” In this case, the truth does matter and it is not on Christie’s side. Christie’s insistence on using the courts to force his way onto the ballot is disqualifying given his previous statements about Trump. It’s time for Christie to step aside and throw his support behind somebody he thinks is best suited to defeat Trump in the primaries.