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William A. Lee III is an attorney representing a number of municipalities, the former chair of the Maine Ethics Commission and a retired adjunct professor in government and administrative science at Colby College.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that there is massive fraud with absentee voting and by non-citizens voting. Republicans in Maine have also made claims of voter fraud in Maine elections. In 2022, former Gov. Paul LePage again claimed that people came from Massachusetts by bus to Maine and voted more than a decade earlier. This claim was never substantiated. If people from out of state attempted to vote in Maine, they would first have to show proof of identity and residence in Maine to register to vote.
Last year, there was a Republican claim that 51 people voted twice in the 2024 election. The investigation by the Secretary of State’s Office found that none of the 51 people voted twice.
Earlier this year, 250 ballots that were supposed to be shipped to the City of Ellsworth were instead reportedly shipped to a person in Newburgh, along with items that person had ordered. This led to claims of attempted voter fraud. While the attorney general’s office investigation is still ongoing, from statements made by UPS, it appears that a UPS box had broken open, and in the repackaging the ballots were inadvertently placed in a shipment to a person in Newburgh. Even if these ballots fell into the wrong hands, they could only be used by people who were registered to vote. As a result of this incident, UPS is no longer used to ship ballots.
There has never been a conviction in Maine for a non-citizen voting. The conservative Heritage Foundation’s database shows only two convictions for voter fraud in Maine. These convictions were in 2010 and were for duplicate voting. The secretary of state’s office reports that in 2024 a person allegedly voted for his deceased uncle and there is presently a person in Aroostook County under indictment for alleged duplicate voting that year.
All votes in Maine elections are entered in the Central Voter Registration Database, which makes it easy to detect duplicate voting or voting for a deceased person. There are approximately 960,000 registered voters in Maine. Out of the millions of votes cast in Maine elections over the years there have only been a small handful of fraudulent voting cases.
It should not be surprising that voter fraud in Maine is exceedingly rare. Voter fraud is a Class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. A non-citizen is not likely to risk prison and deportation to cast a vote.
Absentee ballots are meticulously processed in a public setting, which anyone is entitled to watch. Voter signatures on absentee ballots are required to be checked to see that they match the signature on the voter’s registration. Members of the public have the right, upon timely request, to inspect absentee ballot applications and envelopes.
Maine elections are also not subject to outside interference. Voting is highly decentralized with our 482 voting districts. We use paper ballots, so each ballot can be checked against the voting machine totals. Voting machines are not connected to the internet, which prevents outside interference. There are poll watchers from each political party present on election day.
Maine elections are secure. Maine has had the third highest voting rate in the country over the last four federal elections. We should be proud of these facts.
Instead, we have increasing unfounded attacks on the security of our elections. This has produced several unfortunate results: It sows distrust in the results of elections. Voting is our most fundamental right. Without trust in the results of our elections, our democracy is at risk. With distrust in elections, some people will not bother to vote.
The attacks on our elections have led to threats against election workers. One municipal clerk has been subjected to a death threat and municipal clerks report an increase in harassment of election workers.
If you are still not convinced in the security of our elections, volunteer to work in the mid-term elections. You can help process absentee ballots, check in voters on election day and assist in many other ways. You will find that municipal clerks and elections workers possess integrity, and you might make some good friends in the process. Finally, remember to vote. Our democracy depends on it.