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Elections Division Investigation Clears False Allegations of Dual Voting

AUGUSTA, MAINE – In a letter written to the Maine Republican Party, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows today announced that the Elections Division has concluded a full investigation of all Maine citizens accused by the Maine GOP of voting twice and found all accusations to be false. 

“Mainers can be reassured that following a thorough investigation, my office has confirmed that none of the 51 names provided by the Maine GOP had voted twice in the same election,” said Secretary Bellows. “We are proud of Maine’s safe, free, and secure elections, and I applaud the detailed work that Maine election officials do to ensure the integrity of our voter rolls and protect Maine elections.”

The Election Division’s investigation revealed that of the 51 names accused of illegal dual voting by the Maine GOP, none of them were associated with any dual voting or wrongdoing. 11 names portrayed as being the same person were in fact different people. 19 of these records had voter participation history (the record of someone voting in an election) erroneously assigned twice by their local municipality, but the voter had not in fact voted twice, as confirmed by municipal staff. 21 of the records needed an administrative resolution, such as duplicate voter record resolution or other minor correction but had no record of dual voting. As an example, one of the individuals accused of voting twice had in fact voted in both the municipal and state elections in June 2024, which are separate elections, even when held on the same date. 

“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,” said Secretary Bellows. “It’s not only unfair to the individuals wrongly accused but also an insult to the hardworking state and local election officials to make false accusations of criminal activity.”

Election officials conduct detailed inspections of the voter rolls following every election to identify duplicates and any discrepancies or potential wrongdoing. Following the 2020 election, two individuals were identified by election officials as having voted twice and successfully prosecuted by the Maine Office of Attorney General. 

Part of the routine election administration includes review of duplicate registrations. Duplicate records are not uncommon and are typically created after someone recently moved to a new municipality. Cancellation of duplicates and other routine voter list maintenance activities are reported to the Maine Legislature annually. A report of the 2024 voter list maintenance was delivered to the Maine Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee in January. In 2024, 1,191 duplicate records were removed from the statewide voter registration database. Since the January report, and in addition to day-to-day routine voter list maintenance, 180,584 voter records were cancelled for being in inactive status for two general elections. 

To ensure uniformity across the state and correct action is taken on the correct records, duplicates are resolved by state Elections Division staff, rather than municipal clerks, who only have access to the records in their town – which may not be the duplicate record or may include information that needs to be retained on a different record.

“51 Mainers were falsely accused of voting twice and had their names and addresses handed to the media,” said Secretary Bellows. “That should never have occurred. Maine GOP leadership may have been unaware of the meticulous detail that goes into voter list maintenance by the nonpartisan staff of the Elections Division, but if they have future concerns, I hope that they will bring them to the appropriate authorities for proper investigation.”

 

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Letter issued to Maine GOP 07/16/25