#Maine rejects #JusticeDepartment’s request for all #voters’ personal info, list of election officials

Secretary of State #ShennaBellows' responded to the request by telling the DOJ to "go jump in the Gulf of Maine."

by Dylan Tusinski, July 29, 2025

AUGUSTA — "Maine is denying the U.S. Department of Justice access to its voter registration records, state officials said Tuesday, rejecting an unprecedented request for sensitive voter data that the Trump administration has now delivered to all 50 states.

"A letter late last week to Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and signed by Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General Michael Gates claims Maine had roughly 11,000 voters with duplicate registration. It requested the state’s entire voter registration list dating back to November 2022 'to ensure that ineligible voters are being removed.'

"The state has 14 days to respond to the letter dated July 24.

"Bellows, who is also a Democratic candidate for governor, said in a press conference Tuesday the Trump administration is overstepping its bounds, empowering false narratives and 'trying to change the topic away from the Epstein files.'

" 'Article 1 of the Constitution places the states — not President Trump, not the federal government — in charge of federal elections,' she said. 'The DOJ doesn’t get to know everything about you just because they want to.'

"Bellows’ office is coordinating with Maine’s Office of Attorney General to draft a formal response, she said.
The Maine Republican Party has previously claimed widespread voter fraud across the state, but a subsequent investigation by Bellows’ office concluded this month and found those claims were baseless. Just because someone is registered to vote in two different towns doesn’t mean they intended to vote twice. Often, it simply means that they moved between elections.

"A spokesman for Maine Senate Republicans declined to comment on the DOJ’s request or Bellows’ response. Other Maine GOP officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

"In addition to #VoterRegistration information, the DOJ also has requested the names of local election officials as well as information about noncitizens, felons, and deceased people’s alleged participation in Maine elections following President Donald Trump’s repeated false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him.

" 'Please provide a description of the steps that Maine has taken, and when those steps were taken, to identify registered voters who are ineligible to vote as well as the procedures it used to remove those ineligible voters from the registration list,' the DOJ’s letter reads.

"The DOJ has not publicly said why they are seeking voter records across the country. Asked about the request to Maine and other states, spokesperson Pierson Furnish replied in an email 'No comment.'

"The first Trump administration similarly made requests to view all Americans’ voter information in 2017. Then-Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said at the time he would release voters’ names, ages, residences and districts with the government, as allowed by Maine law.

"The American Civil Liberties Union [#ACLU] of Maine said the DOJ’s actions both now and then are part of 'a clear pattern of intimidation' and applauded Bellows’ refusal to share voters’ information.

" 'This letter also fuels #FalseNarratives that sow distrust in our elections. Maine elections are safe, secure, and accessible, and that’s why Maine consistently has some of the highest voter turnout,' said Samuel Crankshaw, the group’s communications director. 'Our government should focus on helping more people exercise their fundamental rights.'

Maine’s voter turnout is reliably high compared to other states and more Mainers voted in 2024 than in any election before, according to state voting data.

"The Justice Department initially reached out to swing states like #Michigan, #Arizona and #Wisconsin, where local election clerks have reported federal agents requesting broad access to the states’ #RegistrationRolls and #VotingMachines.

Now, Bellows said all 50 states have received similar letters. #Maine, #Minnesota and #NewHampshire are the only states to have rejected the requests so far."

Read more:
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/07/29/maine-rejects-justice-departments-request-for-lists-of-all-voters-election-officials/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/K91De

#Trump seeks to mandate proof of #citizenship in #VoterRegistration

"Only about half of Americans have a U.S. passport, and only five states currently offer enhanced driver's licenses that show proof of citizenship."

By Jude Joffe-Block, March 26, 20251:09 AM ET

Excerpt: "#VotingRights advocates, however, warn outdated databases can erroneously list naturalized citizens as noncitizens. Past efforts by states to purge noncitizens from voter rolls have sometimes swept up eligible U.S. citizens.

"The executive order also seeks to stop states from counting mail or absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day but received after by withholding funding from states that allow such ballots to be counted.

"Proof of citizenship requirement

"Ahead of the 2024 election, Trump and his allies made baseless claims about the threat of noncitizens voting in large numbers.

"The current federal voter registration form asks registrants to swear, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens and eligible to vote, and to provide a driver's license number, state ID number or Social Security number. Those who attempt to vote illegally can face prison time, fines or deportation. Past audits and studies have shown such cases are incredibly rare.

"Yet Republicans have made requiring documentary proof of citizenship a policy priority. The executive order borrows heavily from the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the #SAVEAct, a Republican-backed bill. House Republicans have signaled that they intend to pass it in their chamber but it faces difficult odds in the Senate.

"The executive order shows #Trump isn't waiting for Congress. But legal experts say that he does not have the authority through #ExecutiveOrder to make such changes, and the order conflicts with existing #FederalVotingLaw.

"'It's illegal at many different levels,' said Sean Morales-Doyle, the voting rights director at the #BrennanCenter for Justice, a nonprofit that studies and advocates for voting rights. The order directs the #ElectionAssistanceCommission, a small, independent bipartisan agency, to make various changes, including to the federal #VoterRegistration form, but Morales-Doyle said the president can't tell that commission what to do.

"Requiring documentary proof of #citizenship would radically upend voter registration if such a mandate were to take effect.

"The order is explicit that applies to anyone who uses the federal voter registration form. What is less clear is if the order would also pressure states to require showing proof of citizenship with state registration forms, such as by #WithholdingFunds.

"The order only lists a limited number of ways to prove U.S. citizenship. The options given are a U.S. passport, an ID that complies with the #RealIDAct that shows citizenship or a military ID that shows citizenship. A fourth option is a valid government photo ID that 'indicates that the applicant is a United States citizen or if such identification is otherwise accompanied by proof of United States citizenship,' but does not say if a birth certificate would count."

Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/26/g-s1-55927/trump-voting-citizenship-executive-order
#TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #Fascism #Authoritarianism #DictatorInChief
Are #LiteracyTests Next? #VoterDisenfranchisement #CharacteristicsOfFascism