Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said she's found no evidence to allegations by the state Republican Party that more than 50 people voted twice in last year's election.
Bellows said an investigation by her office found that 11 of the names portrayed as being the same person were, in fact, different people. Nineteen people were recorded by their municipalities as voting twice, but actually voted just once.
And 21 others were also confirmed as voting once after an administration resolution process. One person, for example, was accused of voting twice, but voted in both state and municipal elections last summer, which are separate elections but held on the same day.
Duplicate records, Bellows said, are not uncommon and are typically created after someone moves to a new municipality. She said state elections officials routinely review voter list records and remove duplicates.
“Anyone with concerns or evidence of improper voting should bring those to the appropriate authorities at the Department of Secretary of State, and we will investigate appropriately as we have always done in accordance with our oath to the Constitution,” Bellows said Wednesday in a statement.
In its own statement, the Maine Republican Party called its election investigation a "resounding success" and said that it forced the Secretary of State's office to "clean up state voter files."
Under Maine election law, the Secretary of State's office is required to report annually to the Maine Legislature about the state's voter registration system. Bellows' office delivered the 2024 report to Maine lawmakers in mid January. The report identified 1,191 duplicate records that had been removed.
