The Republican National Committee is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, days after video showed the Trump-hating leftist acknowledging that there are surely “some” noncitizens on the state’s dirty voter rolls. 

According to documents exclusively obtained by The Federalist, RNC legal staff has sent a formal complaint to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Michael Gates, alleging Bellows has violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). 

The Democrat who attempted to boot then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump off Maine’s 2024 GOP primary ballot has effectively extended her middle finger to the RNC’s requests to make public “all records” pertaining to Maine’s voter list maintenance system, the complaint says. Bellows has apparently done the same to the DOJ when they requested voter data, telling the Trump administration to “jump into the Gulf of Maine.” 

Five months after the RNC made its initial records request, Bellows finally agreed to produce “off-the-shelf records, such as policies, procedures, and training manuals” about Maine’s voter list maintenance systems, the complaint states. But the secretary of state has “refused to indicate whether she is willing to produce any further records, including concrete data that would demonstrate whether Maine is actually implementing these policies as written.”

“Furthermore, the limited information provided by Secretary Bellows’ office suggests that Maine is failing to maintain its voter list with any regularity,” wrote Mandy Lester, chief counsel for the Republican National Committee. “Therefore, we respectfully request that the Department of Justice investigate Maine’s compliance with the NVRA’s ‘all records’ requirement and its list maintenance obligations.” 

The concern is certainly merited. 

‘Some Isolated Instances’

As The Federalist reported last week, in video footage pushed out by Libs of TikTok, Bellows admits that there are likely foreign nationals on the Pine Tree State’s registered voter list. 

“I’m sure there are, um, in some isolated instances, some noncitizens may be on the rolls,” the elections official said in a video clip.

Bellows, like other liberal election officials and so-called voter-rights activists, has long claimed that worries about noncitizens on state voter rolls are just a ruse by Trump and Republicans to erode faith in elections. Bellows’ office did not return The Federalist’s request for comment seeking an estimate of how many noncitizens populate Maine’s voter list. 

The RNC, which has blasted Bellows for her resistance campaign against government transparency in furtherance of her run for governor, asserts the secretary of state made little effort to comply with its open records request — or the public disclosure terms of the NVRA. In an Aug. 4 letter, a representative from Bellows’ office wrote that she would be able to respond to the RNC’s request within “36 to 48 months,” the complaint details. All the RNC had to do was fork over $23,000 for the requested records. And the secretary’s office would not fill at least three of the RNC’s requests because state elections officials had conducted their “last address mailing confirmation in June of 2022” — more than three years ago. 

“After contacting the [SoS office] representative to discuss the matter, she indicated that Secretary Bellows’ office would provide information responsive to one of our sixteen requests. That request, Request No. 1, covers the most basic off-the-shelf policies and procedures, which should require no more than a couple of hours to compile,” Lester wrote.  

‘Treats Transparency Like It’s a Threat’

As all state election officials should fully understand, the NVRA requires the public inspection of “all records” tied to ensuring voter rolls are current and accurate. The RNC argues Bellows’ truculence, including the excessive cost and timeline to release the records, “are intentionally prohibitive and contravene the NVRA’s clear commitment toward transparent government and public accountability.” 

Last year, the Public Interest Legal Foundation won a landmark victory “for transparency and clean elections” when the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Maine’s voter rolls are bound by public records provisions under the National Voter Registration Act. 

“[W]hether voter registration rolls are accurate and current cannot be determined without inspecting the Voter File … In other words, the evaluation of voter registration rolls would be impossible if the results of Maine’s voter list registration and maintenance activities were not subject to public disclosure,” the federal court opinion states. 

It would seem Bellows is doubling down on her closed-government games, even after the Public Interest Legal Foundation alerted the office to more than 18,000 deceased residents, almost 1,500 same-address duplicate or triplicate registrations, and 900-plus registrants registered in other states on Maine’s voter list. 

J. Christian Adams, president of the election-integrity watchdog, said unfortunately, Maine voters are stuck with Bellows, “who treats transparency like it’s a threat and dirty voter rolls like they’re a feature.”

“PILF has been litigating against her for years, eventually beating her twice in Federal court, forcing her to turn over voter rolls and a large attorney fee award,” Adams told The Federalist in an email response. “Elections aren’t a game of hide-and-seek, but you’d never know that in Augusta.”

‘Immediate Federal Investigation’

The DOJ is quite familiar with Bellows’ work. Earlier this summer, the department’s Civil Rights Division asked several states, including Maine, to provide information on their election processes and voter registration data. Bellows declared the DOJ’s request unconstitutional, as noted in the leftist Maine Morning Star. That’s the epitome of hypocrisy after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down efforts like Bellows’ to disqualify Trump from the 2024 primary ballot on a twisted interpretation of the Constitution. 

“My answer to the DOJ is, ‘Go jump in the Gulf of Maine,’” Bellows told the outlet in late July.  

Given Bellows’ “explicit admissions” and a lack of assurances that Maine’s Secretary of State’s office is complying with the NVRA, the RNC believes it’s likely Maine is “failing to conduct reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity of its voter lists,” the complaint warns. 

“The RNC believes that Secretary Bellows’ actions justify an immediate federal investigation within the Department of Justice’s statutory authority,” Lester concluded. 

Bellows’ office did not immediately respond to the Federalist’s phone calls or texts about the allegations in the RNC complaint. The secretary’s spokeswoman was expected to be out of the office on Tuesday attending the ‘Disinformation Summit: Gathering Insights & Understanding Impact,'” with “limited access to email,” according to an automatic response. The event features some of the biggest leftist activists Maine has to offer.