With voters set to cast ballots in two critical races that could help determine control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress, fears of potential voter suppression are running high in Maine.
uncertain
fears → set → Maine
Officials in the state have prepared for months against the possibility of election interference from federal officials, and the state remains on high alert in the run-up to the general election on November 3.
Training materials for law enforcement officials in the state, obtained by The Intercept through a public records request, were updated this year for the elections to include
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elections → prepare → request
In an interview with the New York Times this week, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said the inclusion of such references was a direct defense in response to the fearmongering around election integrity from President Donald Trump and his administration.
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inclusion → say → Trump
“This is the first time ever that we have had to engage in scenario planning to safeguard against potential federal interference in elections,” Bellows said.
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Bellows → have → elections
“It seems like the federal government is now adversarial to the states.”
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government → seem → states
Bellows’s office offered up the training slideshow, which cites a U.S. law that bars armed civil or military officers from posting at voting sites, to law enforcement personnel in the run-up to Maine’s primary election in June and again in the lead-up to the general election on November 5.
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that → offer → November
Nationwide, Democratic officials have expressed fears that the Trump Administration might weaponize U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies to undermine the rights of voters.
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Administration → express → voters
In New York, state Attorney General Letitia James issued a reminder to voters that federal officials may not “police the polls,” and the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP called out the assignment of federal election monitors to two counties in the state as potential intimidation.
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chapter → issue → intimidation
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has sounded the alarm about the alleged scourge of non-citizens on the voter rolls, sending agents from the FBI and ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division to probe alleged fraud.
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administration → sound → fraud
A handful of people in California, New York, and North Carolina have been indicted for allegedly voting as non-citizens, but a review of similar cases by the Washington Post found that such cases were often the result of honest mistakes.
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cases → indict → mistakes
In Maine, worries about federal interventions at polling places flared when — following a slew of social media videos from Trump allies suggesting that fraud is already taking place among the state’s Somali American community — a local outlet reported that the Department of Justice would be sending election monitors to the state.
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Department → flare → state
Jon Fetherston, a journalist with the far-right Maine Wire, which is funded by conservative megadonor Leonard Leo, was seen following people in and around an early voting site at Lewiston City Hall and aggressively questioning them.
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which → fund → them
(The Maine Wire did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
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Wire → respond → comment
Critics said the moves were tantamount to voter harassment, but Maine Wire editor-in-chief Steve Robinson later defended them as an act of election transparency.
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Robinson → say → transparency
Robinson, who has led a crusade against what he alleges to be a network of fraud in the state’s Somali American community, questioned the role of interpreters tasked with helping “jobless Somali bums” cast their ballots.
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bums → lead → ballots
In the wake of the Maine Wire controversy in Lewiston, Bellows confirmed to the Maine Morning Star that a wave of federal election monitors would be headed to polling sites in Lewiston and Portland.
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wave → confirm → Lewiston
The Department of Justice on Tuesday confirmed to The Intercept that it intends to send election monitors to Maine for Election Day, but did not elaborate or respond to specific questions about where the monitors were to be sent.
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monitors → confirm → questions
“We will have around 1,000 monitors in counties throughout the United States, but we will not share the full list until Election Day,” a Justice Department spokesperson told The Intercept in an email Tuesday.
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spokesperson → have → email
“All monitors must meet the same legal and ethical requirements, including that they not interfere with the voting process.
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they → meet → process
Every monitor has the same role: observe for potential violations of federal law and report concerns to the Department, which the Department will review after Election Day and act where appropriate.”
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Department → have → Day
Robinson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Robinson → respond → comment
Collins Takes Right-Wing Bait
With Maine a key battleground state for control of Congress — Democratic challenger Troy Jackson is seeking to topple long-serving GOP Sen. Susan Collins, and the Democratic House candidate Matt Dunlap is seeking to best former Gov. Paul LePage in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District — temperatures are running high in the state.
Progressives in Maine worry that even without a robust federal presence at voting places — whether monitors are armed or not — activist campaigns like the one undertaken by the Maine Wire journalists could pose a potential threat to voters’ rights.
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campaigns → take → rights
“Basically, if you were walking into City Hall and you were Black, you could expect to have this guy come up to you with his phone and ask you all sorts of rude and obviously racist questions,” said Ben Chin, co-director of the progressive Maine People’s Alliance.
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Chin → walk → Alliance
“We’re trying to encourage everyone to come out to vote, but it makes sense why that might give people pause.
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that → try → pause
You hear a guy like that is outside a polling location, it’s reasonable to wonder, ‘Should I go down there right now?’”
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I → hear → location
In a statement to The Intercept, Bellows said the state and the city of Lewiston were taking steps to ensure that voters could cast a ballot free of harassment.
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voters → say → harassment
“We have received complaints about the intrusive filming, photography, and harassment of voters in the City of Lewiston by political operatives,” Bellows told The Intercept in a statement.
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Bellows → receive → statement
“All voters should be able to exercise their right to vote without feeling watched, questioned, or harassed, and we take these allegations seriously, particularly when it appears that voters were targeted for no other reason than their race or ethnicity.
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voters → exercise → race
We understand the City of Lewiston has taken steps to address the problem, and we will continue to monitor the situation.”
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we → understand → situation
Collins, meanwhile, took the Maine Wire’s reporting seriously after Fetherston asked the senator at a campaign event about the role of interpreters, which he and the Maine Wire cast as “electioneering.”
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he → take → electioneering
“I’m unaware of those allegations, but certainly only Americans should be voting in American elections,” Collins said.
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Collins → ’m → elections
“And it is troubling to me if people are being accompanied into voting booths and handling ballots in a way that is not sanctioned by law.”
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that → accompany → law
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
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WE → ’ → ?
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
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seeing → see → government
Court orders are being ignored.
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orders → ignore → ?
MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies.
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loyalists → put → military
The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse.
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Department → strip → purse
News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
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that → challenge → investigation
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
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many → cover → power
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world.
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Intercept → cover → world
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
