Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows provided an update to the Maine Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee regarding the administration of the state’s voter registration systems in 2024 on Wednesday.
The letter, addressed to the committee chairs, Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec) and Rep. Laura Supica (D-Bangor), Bellows provided the following stats:
- Maine’s Central Voter Registration (CVR) system supported 1,040,701 active voters as of Jan. 1, 2025
- 90.8 percent of the state’s voting-age population is registered to vote, including 182,583 inactive voters
- 22,611 voter records were deleted in 2024 due to required list maintenance activities, including 12,892 deceased voters and 8,131 who had moved
The CVR, implemented in 2007 to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, allows municipal clerks to maintain and update voter data. The data is also made available to political parties and political groups for election purposes.
Bellows praised the system but said that it depends on accurate data entry by users and voters providing complete registration information. To address modern needs, the Secretary of State’s office is in the final stages of replacing the CVR system with a more advanced platform, she said.
That upgraded system was initially planned for 2024, but deployment was delayed due to federal elections and training needs, per Bellows. The new system is now scheduled for launch in 2025.
Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles has also streamlined voter enrollment, according to the Secretary of State. In 2024, 20,042 AVR transactions were completed, resulting in over 10,000 new voter registrations and nearly 8,000 updates to existing records, she said.
Additionally, Maine introduced online voter registration (OVR) in February 2024, yielding 37,975 transactions, including over 12,000 new voter registrations.
Bellows highlighted efforts to ensure data integrity through membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which facilitates cross-state data sharing. She said ERIC reports were instrumental in identifying deceased voters and duplicate records in 2024.
“Our Department remains committed to upholding the integrity and security of Maine elections,” she wrote.
Bellows did not address Maine Wire reporting on the several incidences of noncitizens who are illegally registered to vote in Maine and have had votes recorded under their names.
Bellows has called our reporting on the noncitizens who are registered to vote inaccurate. However, the only evidence Bellows has provided to support that false claim is the illegality of noncitizen voting.
The Maine Wire has also shared evidence supporting our reporting with every media outlet that asked to see it and agreed to similarly protect our sources and the identities of the noncitizens.
The Maine Wire found corresponding voter registrations for ten individuals identified as noncitizens within a set of 25 Medicaid, including six with previous voting histories.
Those noncitizens were described as “2-Legal Aliens” and “3-Other” — rather than “1-US Citizen” — within the Medicaid records.
Here’s the full letter Bellows sent to VLA:
The picture says it all. “Just say no to inbreeding”!
Where the hell is Mattie Daughtry who is the new third stooge ?
Maybe better than Rachel Ross , but not by much .
Stupid pine tree flag tee shirt anyone ?
My favorite picture of REN and Stimpy .
A true pair of incompetent bozos if there ever was one .
They are liars . They want to destroy our state .
We need to vote these idiots out of office .
Save Maine . Vote Republican .
ERIC says #Shenna5wallows
Bellows is our next Governor, this is the passing of the torch that will burn this state down
Try again Shenna. We the people do not trust you and your minons. And we know you are involved in the practice of violating the US constitution by encouraging the registration of the illegal aliens to illegally vote in US elections using multiple nefarious schemes here in the once grand state of Maine.
Only thing missing is a porch and a banjo.
Just like other members of the “Janet’s Team” Bellows has lied and failed to tell the complete truth.
Joe just created 2500 new jail spaces for illegal and illegal supporters.
Pick your room Bellows.
bellows is aptly named.
ERIC system is corrupt. Other states have rightly abandoned it. We should too!
Gov. Janet Mills, SOS Shenna Bellows, AG Frye all need to be fitted with orange jumpsuits and sent to GITMO for election interference and treason!
I’d keep an eye on Golden going for the gold ring. He already has the second CD vote, and will have a huge majority in the first CD.
I take him as the party’s “designated” hitter the way they did for Baldacci, whose path Jared is following. He doesn’t have a red sauce background, but he has Bates badges.
I’ll never forget the way the PPH responded to Baldacci’s winning the democratic primary for Governor. From the very first, they called him the “presumptive winner” of the general election from then on, shading the election as much as they could.
They never showed a bit of detachment. We’ll have to see how they play now, if they even stay alive. When a “newspaper” constantly rattles the tin cup, they may be gone by spring.
Agreed Poppy, But Goldens is not all that strong in CD2. but the deme’s bench is weak and their best choice