Maine Woman Finds Election Ballots in Amazon Package

A woman in Newburgh, Maine, unexpectedly received about 250 election votes alongside some paper plates and rice bags. This unusual delivery arrived just a month before a statewide referendum, where voters were set to decide whether Maine should implement voter ID requirements, following the trend of 36 other states.

Election officials conducted a preliminary review of the votes, which were sealed in 50 packages, and concluded that these counts were legitimate. This raises a troubling question: “How many votes are potentially unsecured, floating in locations filled with statewide supervised drop boxes, just waiting to be processed?”

Adding to the concerns, Ben Midley, a Republican candidate for Maine’s 2026 gubernatorial race, has called for a criminal investigation. He stated that this voting issue warrants immediate scrutiny. Midley emphasized the need for transparency, mentioning that the public deserves to know what Shenna Bellows, the Secretary of State, was discussing via text and phone, along with other details about the delivery of these votes.

“This voting scandal requires a complete criminal investigation soon. We need to know the driver’s identity and how these votes ended up in an Amazon box without proper control. This isn’t the first controversy involving Bellows, as she recently used taxpayer money to keep President Trump away from the Maine vote.”

There are two additional concerns regarding these 250 votes. Firstly, they appear to have been mishandled outside of the necessary custody regulations; secondly, Maine’s Secretary of State, whose politics can be described as left-leaning, oversees state elections.

According to state law, the Secretary of State’s office is responsible for designing, approving, and monitoring the distribution of votes. Votes are supposed to be printed on secure paper, transported in sealed containers, and delivered directly to municipal positions according to stringent regulations.

The woman who received the ballots reported that they arrived in Amazon boxes that seemed to be both sealed and resealed, raising questions about their handling. The ballots were meant for the November 4th vote pertaining to potential voter ID requirements in future elections.

Interestingly, Maine Democrats have conceded that voter ID laws potentially cost them around 13,000 votes statewide. This number has been used by Maine’s Democrat Chairman, Charlie Dinman, as a point of contention when speaking to voters about the upcoming referendum. In a recent message, he expressed that a voter ID could “provoke 13,000 Democrat losses.”

This begs the question: Why would implementing a valid ID result in the loss of 13,000 votes? This query brings us back to Secretary of State Shena Bellows, who would be responsible for overseeing her own election.

Bellows has a controversial history as well, specifically in her efforts to block President Trump from the Maine electoral process in 2024.

There has been significant pushback regarding the voter ID question she proposed, which included provisions like eliminating two days of absentee voting and limiting the number of drop boxes, among other restrictions.

There’s also concern about her past remarks, hinting at a push to enable non-citizens to participate in local and statewide elections in Maine.

As the situation unfolds, many wonder what the next steps will be for Maine voters and how these developments may impact the upcoming elections.