'His time was over before he even started campaigning': Chris Christie mocked as judge keeps him off Maine's Republican primary ballot

AUGUSTA, MAINE: Maine Superior Court Judge Julia M Lipez upheld the Maine Secretary of State's Office's decision on Thursday, December 21, to keep Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie off the state's primary ballot due to lack of adequate number of signatures, as per CBS News.

According to Lipez, the former New Jersey Governor "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."

On December 1, Maine's Secretary of State's Office denied Christie a spot on the Republican primary ballot as it lacked the necessary number of certified signatures needed from the state's voters to qualify for the Republican presidential primary.

The Maine Republican presidential primary is scheduled for March 5, 2024.

Chris Christie's campaign to evaluate other options

Responding to the court ruling, a spokesperson for Christie's campaign said, "We disagree with the court's decision, and we are evaluating our options."

On the other hand, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows welcomed the decision, saying, "We appreciate that the court upheld the integrity of Maine's well-established ballot access requirements."

She continued, "Every candidate, including presidential candidates, must follow the law to qualify for the ballot. We are glad that the court recognized that Maine law is workable and fair to all."

The issue started earlier in December when Maine Director of Elections Heidi M Peckham said that the presidential hopeful's campaign only turned in 844 of the minimum 2,000 certified signatures required to appear on the state's primary ballot.

However, Christie's campaign denied it, saying they gathered 6,000 signatures, and argued it was "simply a procedural issue with the way they reviewed signatures and is under appeal."

Court decision turns into a setback for Chris Christie's campaign

According to the latest opinion polls analysis by FiveThirtyEight, the recent court decision complicates the already trailing Christie, who stands in fifth position among his GOP contenders.

The White House hopeful is currently facing pressure to drop out of the race and instead support an alternative GOP candidate who could compete against Donald Trump.

The ex-POTUS has apparently resorted to body shaming jokes against Christie by saying that he was "mentally or physically" unfit for office and also called him a "fat pig" on another occasion.

On the other hand, the former New Jersey Governor attacked Trump, calling him "Voldermort" and "an angry bitter man" during the fourth GOP debate.

Internet mocks Chris Christie as he's kept off Maine's primary ballot

Soon after the news regarding Christie being kept off Maine's primary ballot came to light, netizens wasted no time in taking a dig at him. 

However, it remains to be seen if he will step aside to find a strong competitor against Trump, who he thinks is turning "crazier" with the increasing number of anti-immigrant remarks.

One remarked, "LOL. How will we survive?!?!" while another said, "Everyone should remove the delve from the Maine ballot until he is let back on, right?"

"Chris Christie running for President is a huge waste of time for him, voters and donors," remarked a person, and someone else added, "Color me shocked...not!"

An individual wrote, "The time for him to drop out was before he deciding to join imo." 

"There’s a lot of things Christie needs to do. That would be a start," joked one more, with another person saying, "Should have dropped out the day after he announced...lol."  

"His time was over before he even started campaigning," remarked a netizen. 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.