Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is taking the Trump administration back to court, joining a multistate lawsuit challenging new U.S. Postal Service rules governing mail-in ballots just 69 days before Election Day.
“This is not over,” Bellows said Wednesday.
“Today, Maine joined states across the country in filing a lawsuit to stop this unconstitutional attack on every American who votes by mail,” Bellows said. “It is unconscionable that the Trump Administration and the U.S. Postal Service would try to change the rules around voting by mail.”
Bellows sought to reassure Mainers that absentee voting remains available despite the escalating legal battle.
“With Election Day now just 69 days away and voting for military and overseas voters less than a month away, it’s important for Maine voters to realize that nothing has changed when it comes to the fundamental voting rights of every American in this country,” Bellows said. “You can still vote by mail.”
She then took direct aim at President Donald Trump and the Postal Service.
“Even though Trump and the U.S. Postal Service seem to be doing their best to try to stop that, they have not yet been successful,” Bellows said.
The latest lawsuit represents another chapter in what has become a years-long battle between Maine’s chief elections officer and Trump over who controls elections, who can vote and how those votes are counted.
But as Bellows once again challenges Washington over election integrity, questions surrounding Maine’s own election system remain unresolved.
Bellows and Trump Have Been Here Before
Bellows became a national figure in December 2023 when she unilaterally determined that Trump was ineligible to appear on Maine’s Republican presidential primary ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Bellows concluded that Trump’s conduct surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol disqualified him from holding office.
Trump appealed Bellows’ decision.
The dispute was effectively settled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in Trump v. Anderson, which found that individual states could not enforce Section 3 against presidential candidates without congressional authorization.
Bellows subsequently withdrew her determination, allowing Trump’s votes in Maine’s 2024 Republican presidential primary to be counted.
The confrontation established Bellows as one of Trump’s most prominent state-level election adversaries.
That battle has continued into Trump’s second administration, including disputes over Maine’s voter rolls.
Bellows Acknowledged Noncitizens May Be on Maine’s Voter Rolls
Bellows has publicly acknowledged that Maine’s voter rolls may contain noncitizens.
During an appearance with Democratic election attorney Marc Elias, Bellows addressed concerns about noncitizens appearing on voter-registration lists.
“I’m sure there are, in some isolated incidents, some non-citizens may be on the rolls,” Bellows said.
The admission is significant because Bellows was not simply discussing the theoretical possibility of an improper registration. Maine’s chief elections officer acknowledged that she believes isolated cases of noncitizens appearing on the state’s voter rolls exist.
Bellows has maintained that noncitizen voting is illegal and has defended Maine’s election safeguards, repeatedly insisting that there is no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting in the state.
The issue intensified after The Maine Wire reported finding voter registrations corresponding with individuals identified as noncitizens in MaineCare records.
Bellows disputed the reporting and demanded The Maine Wire turn over its underlying records. The news organization declined, citing its obligation to protect confidential sources.
Meanwhile, the Trump Justice Department has sought access to Maine’s voter-registration information, creating yet another confrontation between Bellows and the administration over the state’s election system.
The result is an extraordinary election-year dispute: Maine’s chief elections officer has acknowledged that some noncitizens may be on the voter rolls while simultaneously battling the federal government over access to Maine’s voter-registration information.
But that is hardly the only election question Bellows has faced.
250 Ballots, an Amazon Box and an Unanswered Question
On Sept. 30, 2025, a Newburgh woman opened an Amazon package and discovered approximately 250 official Maine absentee ballots inside.
The ballots weren’t intended for Newburgh.
They were supposed to go to Ellsworth.
State records subsequently showed that Ellsworth had reported 250 ballots missing from its shipment, the same number discovered in the woman’s Amazon package.
The discovery immediately raised questions about Maine’s chain of custody for election materials and triggered investigations involving state and federal authorities.
Bellows eventually acknowledged before lawmakers that the ballots had moved outside the established chain of custody while under the control of UPS.
She referred the matter to Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office and told lawmakers she wanted answers.
“I promise you that no one wants answers more than I do,” Bellows said during legislative testimony in January. “This is a very serious matter.”
Nearly eleven months later, Maine voters still have not received a complete public explanation detailing exactly how 250 official absentee ballots intended for Ellsworth wound up inside an Amazon package delivered to a private residence in Newburgh.
No publicly released final investigative report has explained who put the ballots into the package, where the mix-up occurred or precisely how election materials left their expected delivery chain.
Bellows’ office has stressed that blank absentee ballots alone cannot simply be cast and counted. Maine’s absentee-voting process includes additional safeguards, including voter-specific absentee envelopes and records maintained by municipal clerks.
Those safeguards address whether the ballots could have been fraudulently counted.
They do not answer the simpler question that has lingered since September:
How did 250 official Maine ballots end up in an Amazon box?
Bellows’ Election Battles Continue
Bellows’ latest lawsuit places Maine squarely in another national confrontation over election administration, this time involving mail voting and the Postal Service.
For voters, the legal dispute could have practical implications as Election Day approaches and military and overseas voting prepares to begin.
For Bellows, it also presents a striking political contrast.
Maine’s secretary of state is demanding accountability from Washington over changes she says threaten Americans’ ability to vote by mail while questions remain unanswered about Maine’s own voter rolls and one of the most unusual ballot-security incidents in the state’s recent history.
Bellows says the fight against Trump isn’t over.
Neither, apparently, are the questions surrounding Maine’s elections.
If Pingree wins she will definitely be having a big influential job waiting for Bellows .
WHERE THE HELL IS BOBBY CHARLES ?
Coincidently this exercise in futility should only cost about 52 mill,,, exactly.