Tuesday, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows formally rejected the federal Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request for access to the state’s voter rolls and other election-related information.
This comes shortly after the Secretary of State told the DOJ to “go jump in the Gulf of Maine” in response to their initial request for these records.
At the time, Secretary Bellows indicated that she would be collaborating with Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey to craft a more formal response in the coming days.
Bellows also took the time out of her busy schedule to go on progressive activist and former Hillary Clinton lawyer Marc Elias’ podcast last week to crow about telling the Justice Department what it could do with its request. Neither she nor the podcast mentioned that her gubernatorial campaign paid Elias firm $12,000 in the preceding months.
[RELATED: Shenna Bellows Hires Hillary Clinton’s Lawyer in Ominous Early Signal of Campaign’s Intent]
In the official letter sent earlier this week, Bellows questioned the scope of the DOJ’s request and pushed back on what she viewed as “federal interference” in the state’s election process.
“The United States Constitution entrusted the states, not the federal government, with responsibility for administering elections, and that’s a critically important check and balance on potential federal abuse of power,” Bellows said in a statement Tuesday that accompanied a public copy of the letter.
“The Department of Justice doesn’t get to know everything about you just because they want to, and I will do everything in my power to protect the privacy and security of Maine voters,” added Bellows, who is also running for governor in 2026.
“Mainers should be extremely proud that our state is a national leader in voter registration and voter turnout,” she said. “Every eligible voter in Maine has the right to vote and should be encouraged to do so. Why the Department of Justice would question Maine’s success is beyond me and smacks of federal interference in our elections.”
Click Here to Read Secretary Bellows’ Full Statement
Attached to her statement was the official six-page letter sent to Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael Gates on August 8.
“Given the surprising — indeed, to our knowledge, unprecedented — scope of DOJ’s requests for information and records, I ask that DOJ please provide an explanation of why it is making these request to Maine,” she wrote.
Bellows then details how Maine engages in “systematic maintenance of the central voter registration system,” pushing back on the idea that the state does not make a “reasonable effort” to remove the names of ineligible voters.
In the second half of the letter, Bellows specifically addresses each of the information requests made by the DOJ, offering her reasoning for refusing to fulfill them.
First, the DOJ asked for a list of “election officials who are responsible for implementing Maine’s general program of voter registration list maintenance” beginning in November of 2022.
To this, she says that she is ultimately responsible for overseeing Maine’s compliance with election laws, meaning that “any communication concerning [her] department’s compliance with federal law should be sent to [her].”
With respect to local-level list maintenance, she directs the DOJ to view the public list of municipal clerks and registrars.
Second, the DOJ requested a “current electronic copy of Maine’s computerized statewide voter registration lists” that includes “all fields contained with the list.”
Bellows suggests that she is “unable to comply” with this request because “data contained within [Maine’s central voter registration file] is confidential and may not be disclosed except as specified by statute.”
She then asks the DOJ to provide further information about their “intentions” for the database, as well as clarify whether or not they plan to publish or disseminate the information contained in the file and if the information would be subject to public records requests.
Third, Bellows addressed “various questions [posed by the DOJ] concerning Maine’s submissions to the Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS).”
“As an initial matter, EAVS is a program of the independent Election Assistance Commission (EAC), and Maine’s obligation to report data concerning its elections runs to that agency, not the [DOJ],” she wrote.
She then goes on to ask the DOJ to “provide the legal authority” for their apparent assertion that they “may enforce EAC reporting rules.”
“Were Maine’s reporting to the EAC inadequate, we would expect to hear from the EAC,” she wrote. “To date, we have not.”
Lastly, Bellows addresses the DOJ’s request “concerning identification and removal of voters ineligible to vote by reason of citizenship, adjudicated incompetence, and felony conviction.”
It is clarified in the letter that Maine does not disqualify voters based on felony conviction. It is also noted that the state constitution’s restrictions on voting by those “under guardianship for reasons of mental illness” was struck down as facially invalid by a federal court.
“Our Constitution entrusts election administration to the States, not the federal government,” Bellows concluded. “I reiterate my deep concern with DOJ’s unexplained request for sensitive personal data concerning roughly one million Maine voters — a request that far exceeds what would be necessary for a legitimate evaluation of Maine’s compliance with our obligations under law.”
“I ask that, in light of the information provided above, DOJ withdraw its unreasonable request for personal data on individual Maine voters,” she concluded.
Click Here to Read Secretary Bellows’ Full Letter to the DOJ
It remains to be seen how the DOJ responds to Bellows’ letter and her refusal to comply upfront with their requests.
