The Newburgh Board of Selectmen’s chairman is growing increasingly frustrated over what he describes as a lack of communication and progress in the investigation into 250 absentee ballots discovered in an Amazon box delivered to a citizen of the Penobscot County town earlier this month.
“It’s nine days later and we have no updates. No one from town hall has been contacted by investigators or the FBI,” said Kurt Giles, who heads the board.
Giles emphasized that the chain of custody for the ballots is well-documented through the town’s security cameras. He said the woman who turned in the box is personally known to him and that the situation was confirmed immediately with Town Manager Katie Flores.
Giles described the box as “smashed and re-taped,” and noted “it would be possible to obtain fingerprints from the tape.”
He added “that the people of Newburgh deserve to know what is happening and that they need to know someone will be held accountable.”
In an apparent response to remarks made by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows earlier this week, Giles stressed “there are no bad actors in Newburgh.”
Giles said he is “absolutely not” comfortable with the Secretary of State’s office investigating a matter involving its own leadership.
“On Sept. 30, a resident of Newburgh contacted the town office claiming she received 250 blank Maine absentee ballots in an Amazon box. A town official asked her to bring the ballots to the office for safekeeping, which she did just before closing. The ballots were stored in a secure location overnight, and at 8 a.m. the following morning, the Secretary of State’s office was notified. Later that morning, state officials retrieved the ballots.”
Newburgh Town Attorney Tim Pease said, in a statement, “local officials did everything by the book, stressing that the ballots were properly secured and promptly turned over to the state.”
At a news conference Monday, Secretary Bellows said the FBI is now involved in the investigation but did not clarify how the agency became engaged. She also insinuated that Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson may be a “bad actor” connected to the incident. Bellows repeatedly has said she can not answer questions about an ongoing investigation, but has made several media appearances discussing the issue.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said Bellows needs to step aside and that an outside investigation along with FBI involvement is needed.
Giles’s frustration is mirrored by State Senator Sen. David Haggan (R-Penobscot) who issued this statement to The Maine Wire:
“On Tuesday, Sept. 30, I was contacted by a constituent who was alarmed to have received 250 Maine absentee ballots inside an anticipated Amazon order that appeared as though it had been cut open and re-taped. The constituent was alarmed and concerned, and she did the right and ethical thing by immediately delivering the suspect ballots to the Newburgh town clerk.
After she delivered the ballots, she contacted me. We mutually agreed that the details of the story were of immediate public interest, so she documented the materials and the process, and we subsequently contacted a reporter at The Maine Wire to share details of the story and images of the absentee ballots and packaging. Since that time, myself and my constituent have cooperated fully with all law enforcement requests, and we will continue to do so to ensure that Mainers learn the truth about this election crime. We have received no information from the Secretary of State’s office.”
This discovery has put the small Penobscot town in the national spotlight, but the residents and town officials of Newburgh will have to wait until at least Tuesday, for any updates, as Monday is a federal holiday.
