As Republicans focus on voter fraud, a conservative Maine outlet enters the fray – The Boston Globe

The article prompted outrage among state and national Republicans, who called on Maine to investigate. But, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said her office, which oversees elections, has yet to see any evidence that backs up the outlet’s claims.

Bellows and Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey have asked the Wire for its records, but the publication has declined, citing concerns about protecting its confidential source of the records, some of which are from Maine’s Medicaid program, MaineCare. The Wire editor, Steven Robinson, has shared redacted copies of the records to other news outlets and elected officials.

“We have no way of knowing if the claims are valid or false without the ability to investigate,” Bellows said. “I expect that we will see, yet again, another safe and secure election here in our state.”

The allegations in Maine come as Republicans prompt claims of noncitizens voting, part of what Democrats and election officials say is a strategy to undermine trust in the electoral process and lay the foundation for legal challenges if former president Donald Trump loses the election to Vice President Kamala Harris.

It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in US state and federal elections. It has happened, but experts say the practice is extremely rare.

“This is really just a red herring and an attempt to inflame anti-immigrant sentiments and to drum up doubts about the election,” said Alice Clapman, senior counsel with the voting rights program at the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice, of the allegations in Maine.

And, A.J. Bauer, a journalism professor at the University of Alabama who studies conservative media, said the Wire’s reporting seems to be part of a “bigger project of stirring up hyperlocal animosity against migrants.”

Ahead of the election, false or misleading claims about illegal voting have cropped up everywhere from states including Pennsylvania and Virginia to the podium of Donald Trump. The former president has called mail-in ballots “corrupt,” and falsely claimed Democrats encourage noncitizens to vote.

“A lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote,” Trump said at the Sept. 10 debate.

Robinson declined a Globe interview request but in a statement stood by the outlet’s reporting.

“I’m 100% confident that at least six individuals described in MaineCare records as non-citizens are registered to vote and that votes have been cast in their names,” said Robinson, who also authored the piece. He said he doesn’t know how rare or common non-citizen voting is because the government hasn’t investigated.

“Nothing is required of the Maine Wire to solve this problem because the government already has all the records,” he added.

Bellows said her office cannot access Medicaid records due to privacy laws, and added that her office has asked for names, addresses, and birthdates of the individuals cited in the story. A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Human Services said it cannot share private medical records outside the agency due to federal privacy laws.

Spokespeople for the Attorney General did not respond to requests for comment.

“The unwillingness of the Maine Wire to share this information suggests that they’re more interested in undermining public confidence in our elections and potentially laying the groundwork for challenges” than an investigation, Bellows said.

A spokesperson for Governor Janet Mills also urged the Wire to turn over its documents, but did not address the Republican calls for her government to investigate.

Founded in 2011, the Maine Wire is owned by the Maine Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, and often publishes stories popular with right-wing audiences about topics such as transgender students, immigration, and local crime.

One of the Wire’s funders is Leonard Leo, a Maine resident who who has been deeply influential in helping Republicans fill the US courts with conservative judges. Leo, through two nonprofits, has also donated millions to groups that say their mission is to fight voter fraud and are gearing up to challenge a potential Trump electoral loss, The Wall Street Journal recently reported. Robinson said Leo does not have any editorial control.

“Any news outlet worth its salt would be concerned about non-citizen voting” and election security, Leo said in a statement, adding: “The Maine Wire did its job, and did it well.”

The Maine Wire report alleging noncitizen voting cited leaked Medicaid records, which included immigration statuses, for 18 people that it said it cross-referenced with voting records. Six of the 18 were registered to vote, all as Democrats, and five had voted in elections since 2016, according to the publication. But the article added that it was unclear if the individuals, some of whom were documented as having severe intellectual disabilities or cognitive impairment, intended to register to vote or were registered by someone else.

The article also did not publish the names of the individuals, saying it wanted to protect both its source and people’s “sensitive health information.” Robinson said the Wire did not interview any of the individuals because it would have required translators and put his source at risk.

That approach violated standard journalistic principles, said Kelly McBride, a media ethicist at the Florida-based Poynter Institute, who added that not pursuing interviews out of a need for translation services is a “weak, weak excuse.”

“It would absolutely be the norm to reach out and seek comment or input from any stakeholder who you are exposing either directly or indirectly in the article, especially if you are accusing them of something,” McBride said. “I cannot see how it would jeopardize their source.”

McBride added that the piece suffered from a “lack of complete reporting,” citing a section that said: “If their immigration statuses have been correctly recorded.”

Robinson defended his reporting, adding that government officials were incentivized to ensure the accuracy of the records for the state to be reimbursed for Medicaid care. In a second story, Robinson implied there could be substantially more voting by noncitizens in Maine, although did not cite additional evidence.

Some Republicans in the state have latched onto that fear. Maine House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, a Republican, said there’s “a high potential risk that it’s a bigger problem,” but did not cite evidence beyond referring to the Wire’s report. And Trey Stewart, a Republican who is the Minority Leader in the Maine Senate said he viewed the underlying records and has “no reason to doubt that it’s credible.”

Faulkingham added the Wire’s report underscored the need for a voter identification law in Maine, because otherwise voting is based on “the honor system.”

Worries about noncitizens voting influenced New Hampshire lawmakers to adopt some of the nation’s strictest voter ID rules in September, though they won’t take effect until after the election.

Sue Roche, executive director of the Portland-based Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said there “is no incentive for noncitizens to vote,” citing serious consequences to their immigration status, including the potential for deportation. “ILAP calls on the public to recognize this tired and predictable rhetoric and to reject the politicizing of human beings.”

Aidan Ryan can be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com. Follow him @aidanfitzryan. Stella Tannenbaum can be reached at stella.tannenbaum@globe.com.