AUGUSTA, Maine — Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, testifying during Monday’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee meeting in Augusta, acknowledged on the record that “the ballots and envelopes moved outside of the chain of custody while under UPS control”, a direct admission that lands at the center of the controversy that erupted after roughly 250 blank absentee ballots intended for Ellsworth were discovered inside an Amazon package delivered to a home in Newburgh.
The video, taken from a Maine State Legislature Zoom hearing, shows Bellows explaining that the Secretary of State’s office “used Vital Delivery to deliver the Election Day ballots… across the state” after the issue was “quickly identified,” while also conceding that the ballots and envelopes left custody safeguards “while under UPS control.”
The Amazon box that sparked a statewide scramble
A Newburgh resident received an Amazon delivery that appeared opened and re-taped and inside the box were her items along with bundles of roughly 250 blank Maine absentee ballots wrapped in plastic.
That same day, Ellsworth officials reported 250 absentee ballots missing, which state election officials later confirmed matched the Newburgh bundle.
State officials have emphasized that the ballots were blank and could not be used without corresponding signed envelopes, but the central question has remained unanswered: how did official state ballots wind up mixed into a private Amazon shipment and delivered to a front porch?
FBI, then UPS — and now an admission that raises even more questions
As the scandal unfolded, Bellows offered shifting explanations for who was investigating.
At one point, Bellows said the FBI was conducting the investigation. Later, on Election Day, she indicated that UPS was doing the investigation.
Now, Bellows’ latest admission, that the ballots and envelopes moved outside the chain of custody while under UPS control, only complicates the issue further, because it underscores that the breakdown occurred in the very window where accountability and documentation are supposed to be airtight.
“We will not stop until we have answers.” — but where are the answers?
In the early fallout, Bellows publicly insisted, “We will not stop until we have answers,” and warned that “bad actors” would be caught and punished. But critics argue Monday’s testimony makes the entire episode look worse, not better.
They point to what still hasn’t materialized: no clear public findings, no explanation for how ballots ended up inside a private Amazon shipment, and no indication the public has been given the basic accounting that should follow an incident involving official election materials.
The quiet courier switch that raised even more questions
In the middle of the fallout, Bellows replaced UPS with Vital Delivery to handle delivery of Election Day ballots.
An email from Elections & Voter Registration Director Heidi M. Peckham informed municipalities that official ballots would be delivered by Vital Delivery and that the “Official Ballot Receipt deadline has changed to the date you receive your ballots.”
Bellows’ office declined to answer questions about the arrangement, and a search of state contract records turned up no record of a formal agreement with Vital Delivery. Bellows ran from this reporter at a South Portland No Kings rally this fall when I asked her about the company switch.
What the video adds
Until now, the public story has largely centered on the bizarre outcome, ballots inside an Amazon box, and the state’s behind-the-scenes courier switch.
Bellows’ testimony adds something more direct and more damaging: an on-the-record acknowledgment that the ballots and envelopes left the chain of custody, and that it happened while under UPS control, sharpening the same question that has hung over the scandal from the start, who was responsible, what exactly happened, and why has the public still not been given straight answers?
