Justice Department

Maine is one of the states that the Department of Justice has sued because Bellows' office has refused to comply with requests for voter roll information as part of the agency's election integrity efforts.

Maine and other states have settled a lawsuit with the federal government over efforts to require proof of immigration status before offering services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The case, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, alleges that the Trump administration is violating the legal and constitutional rights of non-citizens by denying them access to a bond hearing after being detained.

The governor was responding to the Trump administration's latest lawsuit against Maine, this time seeking complete copies of the state's voter registration files.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has rejected two demands from the DOJ to share complete copies of Maine's computerized voter registration rolls. The department's lawsuit, filed Tuesday, represents an escalation of the national tug-of-war between the Trump administration and states over voter data.

The Department of Justice says the detailed data is needed to ensure Maine is accurately maintaining its voter rolls. But Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, says the DOJ is overstepping its bounds as part of a "fishing expedition."

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, instead asked a DOJ official why the department wanted the information, how it would be used and to provide details about which, if any, laws Maine has violated as part of its efforts to maintain voter rolls.

The Department of Health and Human Services made the referral just four days after initiating an investigation into the state. But federal investigators never contacted either the governor's office of the attorney general's office.

In its lawsuit filed in September, the DOJ alleged that Maine failed to provide adequate community-based care for children with behavioral health disabilities.

The lawsuit alleges that Maine segregates children with behavioral disabilities in hospitals, residential facilities and the Long Creek Youth Development Center.