Gov. Paul LePage has sent newly elected legislators to Augusta a form letter saying he “cannot attest to the accuracy” of Maine’s recent election results, but doesn’t cite any specific evidence of fraud, and no major voting problems were reported in the state. The letter, which was posted on social media by Democratic lawmakers on Thursday, turned a mere formality into a political statement, with the Republican governor doubling down on past doubts about the integrity of Maine’s election system. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, a Democrat, said LePage is “continuing that widespread mythology of widespread voter fraud,” saying Maine saw only isolated cases of voting issues on Election Day, none of which amounted to fraud. “I think the integrity of the election is absolutely not in question,” Dunlap said. “I’ve asserted that a hundred times, and I’ll assert it another hundred times.”
A national conversation on the integrity of the voting system has been spurred by President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican whom LePage endorsed. Before he beat Democrat Hillary Clinton last month, Trump said the election would be “rigged,” and earlier this week, he said he won despite “millions” of people voting illegally. He has provided no evidence for those claims, with The Washington Post calling them “bogus” and counting only four cases of documented voter fraud in the U.S. during the election.
The Bangor Daily News was the Maine partner for Electionland, a consortium of news organizations headed by ProPublica that monitored the country for reports of voter fraud or voting problems on Election Day. No such allegations were reported or found in Maine.
There were a handful of minor issues. Dunlap said tabulation machines broke down for short periods in Mount Vernon, Lincolnville and Woolwich. In Scarborough, absentee ballots processed the day before the election were initially excluded from results. There were isolated reports of wrong ballots handed out to voters in some places.
Full Article: Without evidence, LePage tells lawmakers he can’t attest to election tallies — Politics — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine.