Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is confident law enforcement will ultimately uncover why 250 official ballots were allegedly delivered to a Newburgh home in an Amazon package. She also said the incident underscored that Maine’s processes work and that the state’s elections are safe and secure.
“Even if the most enterprising criminal were able to fabricate Maine ballots or Maine absentee ballot envelopes or if that chain of custody were broken, our elections would remain free, safe and secure because of the checks and balances in absentee voting itself,” Bellows said at a news conference at the State House Monday afternoon.
Monday also marked the first day of in-person absentee voting throughout the state for the November election.
In order to vote absentee, lawfully registered Maine voters must specifically request a ballot, Bellows explained. Those requests are tracked in the central voter registration system. Additionally, the Secretary of State’s office uploads public files in the lead up to the election that list absentee ballot requests.
Bellows outlined the various steps in Maine’s absentee voting process including how the ballots are returned in secure envelopes to clerks throughout the state. With that process in place, Bellows underscored her faith in the safety of Maine elections.
At the same time, her office continues to work with law enforcement to investigate the Newburgh incident. In response to several questions from the press, Bellows repeatedly said she couldn’t provide specific details because the investigation is ongoing.
“Those checks and balances in our production and distribution of ballots have been in place for a long time,” Bellows said. “Clearly, there was an interruption in the process this time so we will certainly do an after-action to evaluate how we can safeguard against any bad actor who seeks to interrupt that chain of custody.”
Despite sharing that the town of Ellsworth reported that it was missing 250 ballots the same day that the conservative news website the Maine Wire reported a Newburgh woman discovered official Maine ballots inside an Amazon shipment, Bellows said Monday that the towns of Ellsworth and Newburgh have all the ballots they need. The woman who reportedly found the ballots has not spoken with other news outlets. …