The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Maine over Secretary of State Shenna Bellows' refusal to hand over complete copies of Maine's voter registration rolls.
The DOJ announced Tuesday that it is suing Maine and Oregon as well as their secretaries of state over their failure to turn over detailed information about voters and maintenance of voter lists.
“States simply cannot pick and choose which federal laws they will comply with, including our voting laws, which ensure that all American citizens have equal access to the ballot in federal elections,” Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. “American citizens have a right to feel confident in the integrity of our electoral process, and the refusal of certain states to protect their citizens against vote dilution will result in legal consequences.”
The department has requested access to varying levels of voter information from roughly two dozen states as part of what officials describe as an effort to protect election integrity by ensuring proper maintenance of voter rolls. While some states have complied or are ongoing discussions over the request, Maine and a number of other states — run by both Democrats and Republicans — have so far refused to deliver all of the requested data.
In Maine's case, Bellows has said fulfilling the demands would require her to disclose voters' sensitive, personal information — such as driver's license numbers, birth dates and partial social security numbers — in violation of state law. Bellows, a Democrat who is seeking her party's nomination for governor next year, has said that the DOJ has not provided adequate justifications for what she describes as "fishing expedition" requests for voter data.
“Maine has some of the best elections in the nation," Bellows said in a statement on Tuesday. "It is absurd that the Department of Justice is targeting our state when Republication and Democratic Sectaries all across the country are fighting back against this federal abuse of power just like we are.”
In late July, the DOJ sent Bellows a letter asking for a complete copy of Maine's statewide voter registration list, including "all fields within that list." The letter also asked for a list of election officials responsible for maintaining that list as well as for detailed information about the state's efforts to update the voter rolls. After Bellows declined the request, the DOJ doubled-down by asking for that information as well as copies of all original, completed voter registration applications submitted between Dec. 1, 2023, and July 1, 2025.
Bellows formally rejected that second request last week.
"Moreover, it is difficult to understand what possible legitimate investigative purpose could be served by such an undifferentiated request for all registration applications in a 19-month period," Bellows wrote in her Sept. 8 response. "In any event, under Maine law, original voter registration applications are maintained by registrars in each of Maine's roughly 480 municipalities."
Republicans in Maine have stepped up their criticism of Bellows in recent months and has accused her office of failing to properly maintain accurate voter registration lists. The day after Bellows formally declined to comply with the DOJ's second request, the Republican National Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting that the DOJ launch an official investigation into Bellows and the secretary of state's office, alleging failure to comply with the requirements of the National Voter Registration Act.
