RNC asks DOJ to investigate Bellows over voter data

The RNC said it sent 16 requests to Bellows asking for details about Maine’s voter list maintenance system to ensure it is in compliance with federal rules but has yet to receive the information. After several months, Bellows' office notified the RNC in early August that it would respond to the request within 36 to 48 months and that the requested records would cost $23,000, Lester said. 

"Given Secretary Bellows’ explicit admissions and the lack of any assurances from Secretary Bellows that Maine is otherwise complying with the NVRA, combined with the concealment of relevant records, we believe it is likely that Maine is failing to conduct reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity of its voter lists," Lester wrote in the four-page letter.

In a statement, Bellows dismissed the claims by the RNC and said she stands behind the integrity of the state's election system. 

"It is disappointing but not surprising that the RNC is yet again lying about Maine’s safe and secure elections to score political points," Bellows said. "I stand by the integrity and professionalism of Maine’s dedicated state election officials who work hard every day to respond to questions that come into our offices, no matter who is asking them and how offensive or inaccurate their allegations are."

Bellows, a former state senator who is running for governor in 2026, has twice refused requests from the Trump administration to turn over the state's voter registration data. She criticizes the demands as a "fishing expedition" that would compromise voters' personal information. In one response, Bellows told the DOJ to "go jump in the Gulf of Maine" and said she would not comply with the agency's demands.

Maine is the latest state targeted by the Trump administration, which is investigating state election policies as part of broader efforts to prevent voter fraud ahead of next year's midterm elections. Other states include New York, New Hampshire, Florida, and Wisconsin. 

Conservative groups have filed hundreds of public records requests across the country seeking to gain access to voter files. In most states, the disputes have landed in the courts.

In February, a federal appeals court ordered Maine to release its voter lists to a conservative group that’s conducting audits of recent elections to probe for fraud following a recent federal court ruling. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in Boston sided with the Virginia-based Public Interest Legal Foundation, which filed the lawsuit and argued that federal law allows data to be available for public inspection.

Maine Republicans, who pushed unsuccessfully to impeach Bellows for trying to remove Donald Trump's name from the 2024 presidential primary ballot, have called on Bellows to resign over her refusal to submit to the Trump administration's demands. 

In an email blast to party members, Maine Republican Party's Executive Director Jason Savage said the RNC's allegations show that "Bellows’ obstruction of requests for public information and admissions to lack of maintenance of the state voter file, if nothing else, are in violation of the National Voter Registration Act." 

"At the end of the day, every single Maine voter deserves to know that our elections were conducted fairly and above board," Savage wrote. "This is the foundation our incredible form of government is founded upon. Our candidates deserve to know that come November 2026, everything is above board and that we fought every battle for safe and secure elections."