Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows responded Wednesday afternoon to the lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the state over her refusal to turn over requested voter registration and election information.
This lawsuit alleges that Maine and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows have violated several federal laws, including the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA).
These alleged violations are said to stem from Secretary Bellows’ refusal “to provide data regarding the removal of ineligible individuals and to produce an unredacted, computerized state voter registration list.”
A Tuesday press release from the DOJ also noted that a case has been brought against Oregon on similar grounds.
“States simply cannot pick and choose which federal laws they will comply with, including our voting laws, which ensure that all American citizens have equal access to the ballot in federal elections,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“American citizens have a right to feel confident in the integrity of our electoral process,” Dhillon said, “and the refusal of certain states to protect their citizens against vote dilution will result in legal consequences.”
[RELATED: DOJ Sues Maine Over Refusal to Turn Over Voter Registration and Election Information]
Appearing before members of the media Wednesday afternoon, Bellows, who has refused to resign as Secretary of State despite campaigning for governor, defended her decision to decline providing the DOJ with the requested information.
Bellows repeated for now the third time her original message to the Department: “Go jump in the Gulf of Maine.”
“It is unprecedented for the Department of Justice to expect that they can get the sensitive voter data of every voter in the country,” she said.
Bellows also echoed Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ (D) now-infamous comment to President Donald Trump (R) earlier this year when asked about her response to the allegations raised in the lawsuit, telling the DOJ that “we’ll see you in court.”
The Secretary of State also implied that sharing Maine’s voter registration information with the DOJ could prove dangerous.
“The Department of Justice, which as the ability to investigate people and put them in jail, should not have the right to know the partisan affiliation of every single voter in the country,” she said. “That’s not something they’ve ever had.”
Bellows went on to question why the DOJ had only pursued legal action against Maine and Oregon — both Democrat-led states — when states with Republican elected officials had also turned down their request.
“This is not normal,” Bellows said in a public written statement. “Mainers are proud of our safe and secure elections, and we see Mainers’ confidence in our elections proven in our high voter turnout.”
“Trump’s DOJ is using its immense federal power to try to intimidate us into turning over protected voter data and changing our voting processes to fit President Trump’s whims,” she said. “We’re not backing down because we know our hardworking state and local election officials run excellent elections here in Maine.”
Click Here to Read Sec. Bellows’ Full Statement
Assistant Attorney General Dhillon responded the next day on X to a short compilation of Bellows remarks shared by the Maine Wire Wednesday morning.
“So lame. Be better, Maine,” she wrote. “At least, be funnier.”
