Maine secretary of state says No Labels misled voters into switching affiliation in ballot initiative

Maine’s secretary of state is raising concerns over No Labels’s initiative to launch independent tickets across the United States, claiming that the organization misled voters into registering as third party for the 2024 election.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said on Monday that she received “complaints” from local clerks and voters who claim No Labels tricked them into joining the initiative to launch a third-party ballot in all 50 states.

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“Voter after voter is telling my team that they were instructed that they were merely signing a petition. They were not told they were changing their political party,” Bellows, who is a Democrat, said in an interview with NBC News on Monday.

“We have had enough similar complaints from voters and clerks alike that it raises serious concerns in our office about No Labels Party organizers.”

Bellows sent a cease-and-desist letter to Nicholas Connors, director of No Labels, as well as letters to every voter that registered with the party last month. She wrote to Connors that her office had “serious concerns” about the “conduct of your campaign” to enroll Maine voters in the No Labels Party for the 2024 election.

The centrist organization has been working to gain access to ballots across all states to open the doors for a third-party candidate in the presidential elections. No Labels is spending $70 million to launch an independent ticket in the United States. The group has gained momentum in Arizona, Colorado, Alaska, and Oregon.

In the letter to Connors, Bellows said voters told her office that they were approached to sign a “petition” to support the new party, and they did not understand that No Labels was asking Maine voters to “change their party enrollment.”

“We infer from these widespread reports that there are many more voters who are similarly unaware that they are now enrolled in the No Labels party,” Bellows said, adding that a voter registration card is not a petition and enrolling voters into a new party is “not petitioning activity.”

“The use of such terms is highly misleading, particularly since Maine law does provide for the use of petitions for many other types of political activity, such as the direct initiation of legislation and the nomination of candidates. Many Maine voters know what a petition is and understand that signing one does not change one’s party enrollment,” Bellows said.

Bellows also called attention to the fact that Maine voters may not know they are currently disaffiliated from their prior party and will be prevented from voting in the primary election of their choice if they remain in the No Labels party.

Maine is one of several states that allow only unaffiliated voters to participate in any party primary they choose but do not allow voters who are registered with one party to vote in another’s primary. So, voters who were unaffiliated and now are registered for the No Labels party will not be able to vote for a Democratic or Republican nominee.

Bellows sent an official letter to voters enrolled in the No Labels Party, alerting them to a possible change in their party affiliation.

“We are sending this letter to ensure that you are aware that you have enrolled in the No Labels Party. If you wish to remain enrolled in the No Labels Party you do not need to do anything,” Bellows wrote, urging people who believe they were “misled” into joining the party to contact her office.

Bellows warned in the letter that there is a three-month waiting period from the time a voter enrolled in the No Labels party before they can switch to a new party. After that, if someone wishes to enroll in a new party, there is a 15-day waiting period before that enrollment becomes effective, secretary of state communications director Emily Cook told the Washington Examiner.

Maine’s presidential preference primary is March 5, 2024, and the primary is June 11, 2024. If voters who switched to No Labels want to make changes to their affiliation, they would need to do so at least three weeks before the primary to secure the ballot of their choice. Maine residents who decide to vote absentee weeks ahead of Election Day would have plenty of time to change their party affiliation. However, Cook noted that many Maine voters like to vote on or close to Election Day, which is one of the reasons a letter was sent out to voters affiliated with the No Labels Party.

“The response we’ve seen from voters who received the letter has generally been of gratitude for the information provided,” Bellows said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Ensuring voters have the information they need to exercise their First Amendment right to associate with the party of their choice (or no party) and those parties’ associated primary elections in 2024, is our concern.”

For the 2024 election, No Labels is seeking to offer alternative candidates for voters who, polls show, do not want to see another showdown between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. A poll released Tuesday from NewsNation and Decision Desk HQ showed that 23.38% of voters said they were very likely to consider a third-party candidate if Biden and Trump are the candidates.

A No Labels poll conducted in March found that 59% of respondents would consider voting for a centrist independent candidate over Biden and Trump. In a three-person race, the independent candidate received 20% of the support, compared with 33% for Trump and 28% for Biden. While 20% seems like an insignificant amount, Democrats worry that the No Labels initiative will aid a Republican victory.

New parties need to enroll 5,000 voters to qualify for the ballot in Maine, and Bellows said the state has had no issues with the other third parties active in the state.

No Labels organizers were told to ask voters to join the No Labels Party and the form that Maine voters signed was titled “Maine voter registration application,” said Matthew Sanderson, counsel to No Labels, in a letter to Bellows.

“No Labels is not aware of any circumstance where one of its organizers told a voter that they were merely signing a ‘petition.’ If you are indeed aware of any actual instance of an organizer misstating the purpose of No Labels’ effort, please provide that information and the organizer will be dismissed,” Sanderson said.

Sanderson said that No Labels had “no objection” to the secretary of state alerting “all 6,456 No Labels enrollees” to let them know of their affiliation. He added the group would be “interested” in knowing if the office finds someone joined unintentionally.

He said that No Labels “cautions” Bellows and her office from “creating and distributing its notification” and that the party asked the office to avoid language that would “encourage unenrollment.”

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“You are a member of a major political party and should not use your government office or public resources to suppress newly competitive political movements in this space,” Sanderson said. “No Labels requests that it receive an advance copy of the notification so that the organization can verify its impartiality.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to No Labels and Sanderson for comment.