Overview

• The Republican National Committee filed a complaint asking the Justice Department to investigate Bellows for alleged National Voter Registration Act violations tied to access to list-maintenance records.
• The DOJ Civil Rights Division requested Maine’s voter registration data in July and again on Aug. 18, but Bellows refused the unredacted request, calling it a fishing expedition and citing privacy and security concerns.
• The RNC says Bellows has only offered off-the-shelf materials like policies and manuals and has not committed to providing underlying data needed to assess whether those policies are being implemented.
• Bellows’ office says it will not provide unredacted identifiers such as driver’s license numbers, partial Social Security numbers, and dates of birth, arguing the DOJ has not justified its need for such information.
• Maine GOP leaders renewed calls for Bellows to resign, while her office said it investigated and found false recent claims of duplicate voting; prior litigation in the First Circuit has required Maine to disclose certain voter-roll records under the NVRA.