Secretary Bellows cites e-Government Act and Privacy Act laws, government data breaches
AUGUSTA, MAINE – Secretary of State Shenna Bellows today issued a formal letter of response to the Department of Justice’s second demand for every Maine citizen’s voter information, including sensitive and protected personally identifying information (PII). The DOJ demands driver’s license numbers, partial social security numbers, and full dates of birth of all registered Maine voters, among other information, while also adding a new demand for all voter registration applications submitted from December 1, 2023 to July 1, 2025.
“The Department of Justice hasn’t shown any good reason for its fishing expedition for sensitive voter information on every American,” said Secretary Bellows. “The federal government has a terrible track record keeping private data safe. Their data demands appear to violate federal privacy laws and complying would put the privacy and data security of nearly 1 million Mainers at risk.”
Secretary Bellows originally declined the DOJ request for Maine voter data on August 8. On August 18, 2025, the DOJ issued a second request for the data and expanded the request to include voter registration applications from a 19-month period.
“Mainers should be proud of our free, safe, and secure elections and our exemplary list maintenance practices. We have happily shared our policies and practices because we are proud of the work our state and local election officials do to protect election integrity, but DOJ’s demands for sensitive, personal information should raise alarm bells for everyone who cares about privacy and democracy,” said Secretary Bellows.
Maine is not the only state that has denied DOJ demands for data. States including Pennsylvania and New Hampshire have recently reiterated denials of DOJ’s demands.
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