Cronkite school of journalism
from Arizona state university.
Judy: Unfounded claims of
widespread voter fraud have led
republican-controlled
legislatures to shake up
election laws in many states
heading into this midterm cycle.
As William brangham explains,
the people who oversee elections
have been caught in the middle.
William: Judy, in a survey
conducted by the Brennan center
last month, 77% of local
election officials said they
think threats against them have
increased in recent years.
17% say they have been
personally threatened themselves
because of their work.
In Maine, a new law signed by
the governor last week makes
threats against election workers
a misdemeanor.
Shenna bellows is Maine's
secretary of state and oversees
elections.
Grade heavy obviously it sounds
like election workers in states
alter the country feel they are
under siege in some way.
What kinds of things were you
hearing from Maine's election
workers that made you want to
support this law?
Sec. Bellows: What we are seeing
across the country is an
increase in threats against
election workers.
It is a consequence of the lie
of 2020.
And disinformation,
misinformation and mall
information.
Reuters documented more than 850
threats against election workers
nationwide.
Here in Maine, we had election
workers whose lives were
threatened.
One election worker who wishes
to remain anonymous had a voter
come in with a weapon,
threatening that person.
Election workers asked to move
forward with legislation to
protect them, to put it under
the jurisdiction of the attorney
general, and create a system for
recording when these incidents
happen, and also training to
help election workers protect
themselves and their polling
places.
William: It has got to be -- I
don't know what the word is, but
incredibly dispiriting that you
have to pass a law to try to
deter this behavior.
Sec. Bellows: It's very
upsetting.
I was talking yesterday to a
clerk who has been in this work
for over 20 years.
She said when she started out,
voters would make her pies.
At the polling places, there
would be hugging.
It would be like a family
reunion.
Unfortunately, that has changed.
Suddenly, people are blaming her
if the results don't go the way
they should.
Or casting conspiracies.
I think the atmosphere has
changed significantly and we
need to do more to step up to
protect our election workers.
William: As he touched on
earlier, please threats and
intimidation's seem to come from
this endlessly repeated lie, but
the 2020 election was stolen,
and there is somehow widespread
fraud in the elections process,
for which there is no evidence,
we should continually say.
How do you, as your state's top
election official, pushback
against that incredible tide?
Sec. Bellows: Suddenly, election
administration, which is
actually a very routine, very
technical and precise, almost
boring job, has become also an
exercise in public education.
First and foremost, we are
recruiting members of the public
to get involved in our elections
as poll workers, volunteers, to
see for themselves first hand
how are out -- how our elections
Then we talked up the process.
I was talking to high school
students, I was reminding them
when you go into vote, you state
your name, your name gets
crossed off on the list, the
voter participation list.
Then you go in, ballots are
tallied, number of ballots is
compared against the number of
names who voted.
All of the technical steps which
hopefully you are not yawning as
I described them, but other
checks and balances in our
elections.
Our local election officials and
state election officials work
very hard to ensure our
elections are free, safe, and
accessible to all, and we should
be very proud of that.
William: Your former governor,
Paul Lepage, who is running to
get back into the governor's
mansion, has made these same
allegations that there was the
2020 election that was stolen,
ballots were stuffed in a prior
election, all of the laws need
to be redone.
Is there any evidence for the
allegations that he has been
making?
Sec. Bellows: None.
For two reasons.
First, it would have been big
news if that had happened on
election day, especially in a
small state like Maine.
We have election hotlines to
take every complaint.
And we get the gamut from
somebody is wearing a t-shirt
that is political, to a
tabulator needs to be updated or
fixed.
We take every election
complained very seriously.
Never has there been a complaint
that there has been fraud on
election day, or people have
been best in.
Second, the processes of checks
and balances, of checking the
voter participation list and
history, counting the balance,
checking those tallies against
the number of people who vote,
checking them in a system to
ensure everyone who votes is
legitimate, and that no one
votes twice.
Those things happen on a routine
basis, and there are checks and
balances at every level.
It is absolutely impossible for
that type of -- the suggestion
that people get bussed into
Maine to vote.
It can't happen.
Judy: When he makes those
allegations, he is calling for a
lot of the things that
gop-controlled legislatures all
over the country have been
doing, which is a tightening --
the whole process of voting.
I wonder what you make of that
process that is happening
nationwide, and do you think
there is anything in Maine that
you could do to tighten things
in an effective way?
Sec. Bellows: Remember, voting
is fundamental to everything
else we care about.
It is a right, guaranteed in our
United States constitution, and
interstate constitutions.
What we should be doing is doing
everything in our power to make
voting accessible and ensuring
the integrity of our elections.
I'm very concerned about the
rollback of voting rights we are
seeing in other states.
And I'm proud of other measures
we have taken in Maine, for
example, protecting the chain of
custody of balance and equipment
to make sure third parties like
cyber ninja can never have
access to them.
We have done things like mating
-- making voter registration
easier.
We just passed a bill, the
governor signed into law last
week, legislation to allow
tribal ids to be used as proof
of identity for purposes of
voter registration.
We are working to make voting
more accessible, and protecting
election integrity.
It is concerning to me that some
politicians, in pursuit of their
own gains, are rolling back
fundamental constitutional
rights of the citizenry.
Judy: --
William: Shenna bellows, thank
you for being here.
Sec. Bellows: Thank you.