Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who just this week announced her candidacy for governor, has “serious concerns” about the new election integrity measures imposed by President Donald Trump in an executive order.

“I have serious concerns about the policies proposed in the Executive Order that would make it harder to vote for women, military and overseas voters and rural citizens,” said Bellows.

Bellows, who previously drew national attention for a failed and unconstitutional attempt to strip Trump from Maine’s 2024 presidential ballots, expressed her concerns to a Maine media outlet on Thursday in response to a sweeping executive order signed by President Trump this week that he called the “farthest-reaching executive action taken in the history of the republic to secure our elections.”

The order implements a nationwide requirement that anyone registering to vote, whether by mail or in person, must provide documents proving their citizenship and requires agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Social Security Administration, and the Department of State to share information with state officials so that they can verify citizenship.

The order includes fiscal penalties, including the withdrawal of federal election-related funds from states that do not comply, and directs the Department of Justice to prioritize enforcement against election-related crimes in states that remain in violation of the order.

In addition to Bellow’s unexplained claim that proof of citizenship requirements would somehow disproportionately affect women and rural Americans, she also expressed concern that it requires government agencies to share personal data among themselves to help prove the citizenship of prospective voters.

“I am also deeply concerned about the data sharing requirements listed in the Executive Order. Mainers should be able to trust that their voter registration and driver’s license data will be protected by their government. Previous and ongoing actions by this administration have shown a disregard for information security and data privacy, so I will work with my colleagues in Maine and around the country to protect the rights of Maine voters and the security of our elections,” said Bellows.

She told the news outlet that she is still assessing the order but did not say whether Maine intends to comply with or resist the president and risk a loss of federal funding, as it has done in response to the president’s ban on males competing in women’s sports.

Despite recent polling that shows 84 percent of Americans support voter ID requirements, Bellows has long insisted that the requirements are somehow discriminatory and racist.

In 2023, Bellows suggested that ID requirements infringe on the constitutional rights of voters and are somehow discriminatory against racial minorities or rural Americans, whom she implies are unable to acquire identification.

“The bill could reduce faith in our elections by making participation for certain types of voters – black, indigenous, people of color, people living in poverty, seniors or people living in rural areas – more complicated and burdensome. It could also undermine faith in elections by increasing lines at the polls and headaches for voters,” said Bellows, speaking against a failed bill to improve election security.

Bellows’ resistance to the president’s election integrity efforts appears even more questionable as she begins her campaign for elected office this week to succeed Governor Janet Mills.

With her recent comments, Bellows is in the position of running for office while poised to preside as the Secretary of State over her own election and actively speaking out against measures that seek to make that election more secure.

She has thus far refused to resign her position as Secretary of State, despite concerns that her position of power over elections constitutes a conflict of interest and provides her with the opportunity to take advantage of her office for the sake of electoral benefits.