Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is condemning Paul LePage for calling into question the ability of Maine towns to conduct free and fair elections, writing, “Lies about elections are at the root of the ride in violence against election officials. It needs to stop.”
In audio released by Maine Democrats yesterday, LePage baselessly says that any municipality with more than 1,000 people is vulnerable to voter fraud—a claim that completely lacks merit. LePage specifically calls out Bangor, Rockland, Lewiston, Portland, and South Portland as municipalities that may not be able to properly count votes.
“Our clerks work hard to make sure Maine elections are free, fair and secure,” Secretary Bellows wrote in response to LePage. “Strong chain of custody protections, checks and balances and a paper ballot protect against fraud. To suggest otherwise is a lie.”
This is not the first time LePage has been criticized by state election officials for sowing distrust about Maine’s voting process. Earlier this year, after LePage made a number of unsubstantiated claims about election fraud in Maine, Secretary Bellows blasted the claims as “malinformation,” while former Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap called them a “blatant lie.” Despite being called out by the officials who run Maine’s elections, LePage has doubled down on these false claims, and is now adding new election lies to his repertoire.
CNN also recently highlighted LePage as one of a number of GOP gubernatorial candidates around the country who are pushing dangerous conspiracy theories about voter fraud. In its report, CNN pointed out that the election lies LePage has used this year are nothing new—he spent his eight years as governor undermining faith in Maine’s election system and claiming that election results he didn’t like were “stolen.”