AUGUSTA — Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said this week that the state is doing a good job maintaining its list of eligible voters, which is why she believes a judge should dismiss a case in which the federal government has sued Maine over access to its voter rolls.

Following a Thursday hearing in federal court, Bellows told reporters that Maine updates its list of eligible voters every day, from when someone turns 18 and is newly able to vote to when someone dies.

“The Justice Department alleges they should be in charge of deciding eligible voters,” she said. “They want to review our lists. Our arguments are we are doing great voter list maintenance every single day.”

Last summer, Bellows — one of five Democrats running in the June primary for governor — provided detailed information to the U.S. Department of Justice about how Maine runs its elections. But she’s “refused to turn over that sensitive, personal voter information.”

That sensitive information includes driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, political party affiliation and how frequently someone chooses to vote, according to a motion to dismiss filed by Bellows in December.

The motion argues that the DOJ hasn’t provided a reason for its request, and that federal law puts states in charge of keeping their voting lists up to date.

“This action reflects an attempt by the Department of Justice to stretch its enforcement authority over these modest list-maintenance provisions well past its breaking point,” Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Bolton wrote.

In response, the DOJ argued in January that three federal laws give them the right to inspect states’ voter rolls. They say a July 2025 letter outlines the reasons they want to see the rolls, including Maine’s high voter registration rate and questions about what Maine is doing to remove duplicates — and those who have died — from the list. 

“The request is made to the State of Maine to provide a voter registration list they already maintain, pursuant to federal law to analyze their federally required list maintenance,” the DOJ wrote in a Jan. 2 filing.

Bellows said 92% of the citizen voting age population in Maine is registered to vote. The DOJ has said that’s a red flag that the rolls aren’t being kept up to date.

“Keep in mind Maine has one of the highest rates of voter participation in the country,” she said. “The fact that we have high voter registration is because we have a lot of citizens who love to vote.”

Judges in California, Oregon and Michigan have tossed out similar cases, Bellows said. Thirty states have rejected the federal government’s request for the files.

“That includes red states as well as blue states,” Bellows said. “So New Hampshire and Kentucky, West Virginia have also said no they are not turning over the voter data.”

There is no timeline for U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker to issue a decision on the motion to dismiss following Thursday’s hearing.