Mills, Bellows Cozy with Progressive Group ‘Studying’ Noncitizen Voting in Maine

Maine’s Democratic Governor and Secretary of State attended an event last year hosted by a progressive lobbying organization that was looking to “study” allowing noncitizens to vote in local and state elections.

Both Gov. Janet Mills and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows attended the League of Women Voters of Maine’s (LWVME) biennial convention in June 2023, which took place at the Holocaust & Human Rights Center on the University of Maine at Augusta campus.

LWVME is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit lobbying organization that is the Maine chapter of the National League of Women Voters of the U.S.

Although describing itself as a “nonpartisan” organization, LWV advocates for a wide array of liberal policy positions, including on gun control, abortion and climate change.

The national LWV also advocates for all illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. to be granted legal status, as well as for noncitizens to be allowed to enroll in Medicaid and against restrictions on asylum claims by illegal immigrants.

This past legislative session, LWVME lobbied in support of LD 1578, a bill which became law without Gov. Mills’ signature, that brought Maine into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

At their June 2023 biennial convention, LWVME presented on a number of potential topics that the organization is seeking to study in the coming years.

The studies are used by LWVME to determine the organization’s official positions on public policy, which are then used as the basis for their lobbying efforts.

LWVME’s most recently concluded study resulted in the organization affirming the position that all Maine citizens 16 years of age and older should be able to vote in state elections.

LWVME Treasurer Ann Luther presented a list of potential future study topics at the June 2023 convention that included the topic “Noncitizen voting: whether to allow permanent, legal residents to vote, either at the local level, at the state level, or both.”

As presented, if affirmed by LWVME the group would be lobbying to allow noncitizen residents, including asylum seekers, refugees, migrants paroled into the U.S., or other lawful permanent residents to vote in either — or both — local and state elections in Maine.

[RELATED: Non-Citizens Will be Able to Vote in Washington D.C. Elections This November…]

Following Luther’s presentation, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows joined her on stage for a “Democracy Forum” panel discussion, also featuring Stuart Baum, a former research associate the progressive Brennan Center for Justice.

A copy of Bellows’ schedule in the weeks surrounding her decision to remove former President Donald Trump from Maine’s primary ballot obtained by the Maine Wire via a Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) request, shows that Bellows had regular meetings with Democracy Maine, an affiliated nonprofit of LWVME.

The hour-long meetings, which occurred on Nov. 22, Dec. 6 and Dec. 20, 2023, are labeled as “Democracy Check-In.”

The entry for Bellows’ Nov. 22 meeting shows the email of Democracy Maine and LWVME Advocacy Program Director Will Hayward, the organizations’ chief lobbyist.

In a post-convention update email obtained by the Maine Wire, LWVME communications director Jen Lancaster wrote that Gov. Janet Mills made an “impromptu visit” at the organization’s June 3 convention.

“Just goes to show that the League of Women Voters of Maine is the place to be,” Lancaster wrote in her email.

In January, the Maine Wire reported on an email exchange with the South Portland City Clerk and Registrar of Votes regarding how easy it is for noncitizens to register to vote in Maine.

[RELATED: South Portland City Clerk Reveals How Easily Non-Citizens Can Vote in Maine Elections…]

Under state law, a person wishing to register to vote in Maine is required to check a box saying that they are a citizen, sign the form, and present some form of ID and proof of residence.

Photo ID, however, is not required to register to vote, and accepted identifying documents may include mail sent to a Maine address, birth certificates, and out-of-state driver’s licenses.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws allowing noncitizens to obtain driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status, including Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

[RELATED: Maine Voter ID Initiative Gains Over 40,000 Signatures on Primary Election Day…]

Although Maine law currently prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining driver’s licenses, the Maine Wire reported in May that there has been an “uptick” in the number of driver’s licenses issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) to individuals using the bogus social security number “999-99-9999.”

In a May 23 email to York County law enforcement agencies, Darcie L. Valido, the Assistant Director of Operations for Sanford Regional Communications, wrote that Sanford Police has “seen an uptick in [BMV] using 999-99-9999 for social security numbers.”

Valido told the Maine Wire that the phony social security numbers can cause issues with the in-house police database, though she was unaware of how or why the phony social security numbers could be tied to Maine driver’s licenses.

[RELATED: Maine Cops Warn BMV Issuing Driver’s Licenses to Individuals with Bogus Social Security Numbers…]

In order to obtain a driver’s license in Maine, applicants are required to provide proof that they are a Maine resident, are a U.S. citizen or are present in the U.S. lawfully, and must provide two forms of identification.

“If your social security number is not on file with the Secretary of State, you must provide your social security number,” the BMV website states regarding the requirements for a Maine driver’s license.

Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Maine Wire that the driver’s licenses linked to 999-99-9999 social security numbers could possibly have been provided to such noncitizen visa-holders admitted to the U.S. legally.

Those noncitizens would apply for a license in Maine at a BMV by providing an I-94 document, also known as the Arrival/Departure Record, as a form of identification, as well as by providing the bogus 999-99-9999 social security number.

In response to these revelations, Maine Republican Party Executive Director Jason Savage called for Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) to launch an investigation into whether illegal aliens are obtaining Maine driver’s licenses and registering to vote.

“This revelation is deeply disturbing. It suggests Maine’s Secretary of State is aiding people who are not legally present to obtain documents, including ID and driver’s licenses,” Savage said in a statement.

“With a wide open southern border and waves of illegal immigrants coming to Maine, this is a recipe for disaster,” said Savage.

[RELATED: 49 States Including Maine Are Handing Voter Registration Forms to Illegal Immigrants Applying for Welfare…]

The issue of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections has recently come to the fore of national debate, largely as a consequence of the high number of illegal immigrants who have entered the country under President Joe Biden.

A recent study published by the nonprofit Just Facts estimated the number of noncitizens living in the U.S. that are registered to vote at about two to five million, based on the 2022 U.S. Census that recorded more than 19 million adult noncitizens residing in the country.

The total number of encounters with illegal crossers at the southwest border since Biden assumed office in 2021 is nearly 7.3 million, CBP data shows — a total that does not include an estimated 1.8 million known “gotaways” who managed to enter the U.S. illegally without being stopped by law enforcement.

In response to the border crisis under the Biden administration, Congressional Republicans have advanced a bill that would require proof of United States citizenship in order to register to vote and would ensure that states remove noncitizens from their existing voter rolls.

[RELATED: Bill Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Become Registered Voter Introduced by Lawmakers…]

The bill, H.R. 8281, or the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, is sponsored by Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, who said when introducing the bill that “we must end the practice of non-citizens voting in our elections.”

“Secure elections are a key cornerstone for any representative government; without them, we won’t have a country,” Rep. Roy said. “Radical progressive Democrats know this and are using open border policies while also attacking election integrity laws to fundamentally remake America.

On Monday, the Biden administration issued an official statement in opposition to the SAVE Act, claiming that the legislation would “do nothing to safeguard our elections,” and would make “much harder for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters are purged from the voter rolls.”

[RELATED: White House Condemns Proposed Bill Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Register to Vote…]

“The evidence is clear that the current laws to prevent noncitizen voting are working as intended — it is extraordinarily rare for noncitizens to break the law by voting in Federal elections,” the White House statement reads.

Rep. Roy and his House Republican colleagues shot back at the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers for their opposition to the bill during their Wednesday weekly press conference.

“Only American citizens should vote in American elections,” Roy said.

“Not surprisingly, our Democrat colleagues — in particular the President, yesterday in his statement of administration policy — take a different view,” he continued. “They don’t believe that we should require only citizens vote.”

“In no way will Americans’ right to vote be hampered, but instead we’ll ensure the integrity of our elections by requiring that we have documentary proof of citizenship to vote,” the Texas Republican said.