AUGUSTA — Secretary of State Shenna Bellows raised alarm bells Tuesday following comments by President Donald Trump that the federal government should take over elections in some states.
Bellows, a Democrat running for governor who has frequently clashed with Trump, told Spectrum News that the Constitution is clear that elections are to be run by the states.
“That’s because the framers of the Constitution understood that it should be the officials at the local and state level who are closest to the voters and most trusted by the people that administer the elections,” she said.
On podcast released Monday, Trump said Republicans should “take over the voting … in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
Trump did not list the states he was referring to, but the Department of Justice is suing Maine and more than 20 other states to get access to their voter files. Since the summer, Bellows has been outspoken in her belief that the federal government has no right to access the full voters files, citing the presence of confidential information.
She said a hearing is set for March on the case involving the Maine files.
The comments from Trump are just the latest dustup between Bellows — who faces at least five other Democrats in a June gubernatorial primary — and the Republican president.
In late 2023, Bellows ruled that Trump’s name should not appear on Republican presidential primary ballots because she believed he incited insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
She agreed with a bipartisan group of challengers who said Trump’s actions ran afoul of the Constitution’s Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits those who have taken the oath of office from returning to power if they participate in insurrection.
Bellows’ decision followed a similar finding by a Colorado court. The Colorado decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court and as a result, Trump’s name did appear on ballots in both states.
When it comes to the right of states to run elections, Bellows said it’s unfair for Trump to “insult our local officials” with a call for the GOP to take over elections.
“It is extraordinarily important that Mainers from every political background, Democrats, Republicans and independents, stand up for the integrity of our elections and state control of our elections,” she said.