Chris Christie Will Not Appear On Maine Primary Ballot Due To Lack Of Signatures

Former New Jersey governor and current Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie will not be on the primary ballot in Maine after failing to gain the required number of signatures.

In order to be on the ballot for Maine’s March 5 primary election, candidates are required to obtain 2,000 in-state signatures. Christie failed to meet the requirements by Saturday’s deadline and will not qualify for ballot access, according to Maine election officials.

“The deadline for candidates for president to turn in a sufficient number of signatures to be on the March 5, 2024, primary election ballot was 5 p.m. today,” Maine’s Secretary of State said in a press release Saturday. According to Maine Director of Elections Heidi Peckham, Christie’s campaign managed to gather just 844 signatures, well below the minimum requirement of 2,000.

A Christie campaign spokesman chalked the miss up to a “procedural issue,” claiming that the campaign submitted more than 6,000 signatures in total. The spokesman added that the campaign will be appealing the decision.

On the other side of the aisle, Democrat candidate Marianne Williamson will also be excluded from the state’s March primary.

With just 43 days until the Iowa caucuses, Christie will be hoping to outlast his 2016 presidential bid, when he dropped out after New Hampshire and chose to endorse then-candidate Donald Trump. The former governor’s campaign has taken on a radically different tone for 2024, however, as Christie has positioned himself as an anti-Trump Republican who claims his former ally is a “danger” to the country.