Elections officials fight misinformation about Maine’s voting security

Maine officers anticipate a modest turnout on June 14 for the state’s major elections, although they’re on heightened alert for threats in opposition to ballot staff amid a rising cloud of misinformation in regards to the safety of Maine’s elections.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows mentioned there are layers of protections constructed into Maine’s election techniques to make sure the accuracy of its depend, all the way down to the person voter. Because the state’s prime election official, she is anxious by claims made domestically and nationally that would erode public belief in Maine’s historical past of holding “free, truthful and safe elections,” Bellows mentioned.

“Sadly, one of many issues that we now have noticed for the reason that 2020 election is deliberate disinformation and misinformation being unfold about elections nationally, together with right here in our state, designed to undermine voter confidence,” Bellows mentioned. “What’s actually tragic is disinformation and mal-information are fancy phrases for lies.”

There is no such thing as a proof of widespread voter fraud in Maine or elsewhere regardless of repeated claims by former President Donald Trump and Republican Celebration members that it occurred through the 2020 presidential election. 

Claims of voter fraud or election safety issues have been utilized by each main political events all through historical past, and presently many of the claims are coming from Republicans, mentioned Mark Brewer, the College of Maine interim chair of the Division of Political Science.

“The Republican base, which nonetheless adamantly helps Trump, eats that stuff up they usually consider it. So for those who’re a Republican working for workplace in 2022 and also you need to attraction to the bottom of your celebration and these adamant Trump supporters, you must pay lip service to fraud,” Brewer mentioned.  

But claims that query the integrity of elections have the potential to be “extremely damaging” to the general public’s belief in democracy, Brewer mentioned. On the identical time, some politicians could attempt to faucet into these fears as a result of it energizes their voters and makes them take part in an election, he mentioned.

An estimated 10 to twenty p.c of voters are anticipated to forged major ballots, Bellows mentioned. 

Maine has protections in its election course of to make sure that solely eligible individuals vote and solely forged one poll.

Chief amongst these protections is Maine’s use of paper ballots which might be marked by the voter and never a machine, Bellows mentioned.  Previous to an election, the state checks the reminiscence units which might be programmed to learn ballots to make sure the machines used to depend ballots — often known as tabulators — produce the identical outcomes as a hand-count of check ballots. Clerks repeat these checks on native machines. Tabulators aren’t linked to the web.

Native nonpartisan clerks then report every individual’s voting historical past within the days following every election by way of the state’s central voter registration system. This enables state election officers to confirm that the entire variety of ballots forged and voters match. It additionally lets election overseers test that voters didn’t forged a number of ballots both by voting by absentee poll and once more in-person, or at a number of polling places.

The one circumstances of alleged voter fraud charged by the legal professional basic’s workplace after the 2020 election had been in opposition to two College of Maine college students. One case continues to be pending in opposition to a girl who allegedly voted twice. Two felony prices in opposition to one other girl had been dismissed in November 2021 after she accomplished 200 hours of neighborhood service and wrote an apology letter to a voter she falsely submitted an absentee poll for, in accordance with Danna Hayes, a spokeswoman for the Workplace of the Maine Legal professional Common. 

“What the information reveals is that almost all of individuals are trustworthy, and that there are checks and balances at each step of the method to make sure solely people who find themselves duly registered in a municipality are casting a poll and taking part in an election. Individuals who attempt to cheat by voting twice are caught and are prosecuted absolutely underneath the legislation,” Bellows mentioned.

Partisan ballot watchers are additionally allowed to look at inside polling places on election days.

The Republican Nationwide Committee has employed Election Integrity administrators in 19 states, together with Maine, to do ballot employee coaching. Throughout a current digital coaching occasion, the Maine election integrity director, Sharon Bemis, reviewed the way to problem a voter and report irregularities — from late begin occasions to malfunctioning tabulators — in actual time with movies and photographs by way of its “shield the vote” on-line type.

“To ensure that the democratic course of to work, Individuals should have confidence that our elections are free, truthful, and clear,” mentioned Maine Republican Nationwide Committee spokesman Andrew Mahaleris. “In Maine and throughout the nation, the RNC is dedicated to defending these rules.”

Voters don’t want to point out ID at their polling location, which has been criticized as a doable election safety downside. However Bellows says it’s not a risk as a result of there’s a complete voter registration course of. 

To look on a voter listing at a polling location, individuals should first show their id, citizenship and residency to register to vote, which is why the state is assured that non-citizens aren’t voting and individuals are not being bused in from different states to vote, Bellows mentioned.

Paul LePage, the previous governor and Republican gubernatorial candidate, has lobbed unfounded accusations that voters had been bused in from Massachusetts to vote in state elections in 2009. 

“When you’re going to make claims like that, in my opinion, it’s good to have some proof to assist them. If these issues are actually taking place that’s clearly an enormous downside, however for those who’re going to make these claims you finest have some proof. Up to now, except I’ve missed it, the previous governor has produced zero proof,” mentioned Brewer, the political scientist. 

LePage helps a “widespread sense” voter ID legislation, mentioned Brent Littlefield, senior political advisor for the marketing campaign. He pointed to testimony Bellows made to the state Legislature in April 2021 that 162,266 energetic Maine voters didn’t have an identical drivers license or state ID document.

“It solely is smart to most voters that we now have an ID if you vote,” Littlefield mentioned.

In response, Emily Prepare dinner, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State, mentioned a few of these 162,266 voters really could have ID. Prepare dinner mentioned the determine was an estimate produced to assist legislative employees decide the potential price of a proposed invoice.

When Maine applied its first central voter registration system in 2007, it transformed lists saved on the native degree right into a statewide system. A few of these lists didn’t embody drivers license numbers although voters had demonstrated proof of id one other method. The state didn’t require voters to provide ID to stay a registered voter, Prepare dinner mentioned.

Skepticism about your authorities is a part of a wholesome democracy, however it’s corrosive when it’s used to undermine techniques and establishments, mentioned Amy Fried, co-author of the e book At Conflict with Authorities: How Conservatives Weaponized Mistrust from Goldwater to Trump, and a professor of political science on the College of Maine.

Fried co-authored a paper in October 2020 predicting possible impacts if Trump persevered in “delegitimizing the election,” and accurately foresaw that “preliminary vote counts would favor Trump however would turn out to be more and more pro-Biden as mailed ballots are counted,” and that Trump would use that as a purpose to say the election “was being rigged or stolen.” In addition they accurately predicted that, “there may be potential for not solely protracted authorized challenges, but in addition social disruption” after the election and earlier than the inauguration — which manifested through the rebel on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In states aside from Maine, there are indicators of some Republicans once more making an attempt to form public opinion to reject election outcomes due to “fraud,” Fried mentioned. It isn’t clear that this all the time advantages the candidate making the declare and will even suppress turnout. 

Nonetheless, the Maine Secretary of State’s workplace is “on excessive alert” for violent threats and ballot employee security, Bellows mentioned. The workplace is involved with legislation enforcement to make sure they’ll intervene if there are issues on the polls, she mentioned.

“It’s one thing that we’re involved about due to developments throughout the nation,” mentioned Bellows, who referenced reporting by the information company Reuters that documented greater than 900 “threatening and hostile” messages despatched to election directors or employees in 17 states through the 2020 election.

“One clerk was sharing with me, on the polls, individuals used to return with pies and treats and hugs. And positively for some clerks it’s a really completely different setting,” Bellows mentioned.

Gov. Janet Mills signed a legislation handed by the legislature this 12 months that improves de-escalation coaching for clerks and makes it a Class D misdemeanor to harass ballot staff. Heightened public pressure from current elections has made some Maine clerks depart their jobs, and several other cities and cities to rent clerks forward of the first election, The Maine Monitor reported.

The lack of skilled election staff keen to employees the polls can be an issue, Brewer mentioned.

Brewer famous that understaffed municipal clerk workplaces and the way that impacts the administration of the state’s elections is a narrative the general public ought to be watching. Outcomes might take longer to be reported. New or inexperienced election staff could make harmless errors or oversights.

“Each time there’s a mistake that occurs or a delay, that would very effectively, and I believe would, reinforce beliefs amongst people who already assume there’s one thing funky happening,” Brewer mentioned.