Shenna Bellows has benefited social justice and human rights even more when she served as the executive director of the ACLU of Maine from 2005 up to 2013.
She championed significant civil rights legislation, favored both parties, championed for marriage equality and voting rights, including for same day voting in Maine.
From 2018 to 2020, she managed the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine, offering classes and working for human rights.
Shenna Bellows remains an advocate for privacy and liberties, and more particularly social justice in Maine.
Background of Shenna Bellows
Shenna Bellows was born in 1975 in Massachusetts and grew up in Maine, facing financial difficulties like living without water or electricity until fifth grade.
She went to Ellsworth High School and Middlebury College, where she excelled and earned a degree in International Politics and Economics.
Bellows worked in the Peace Corps in Panama and later became the executive director of the ACLU of Maine, fighting for civil rights and social justice.
She entered politics, running for the U.S. Senate and Maine Senate, and eventually became Maine’s Secretary of State in 2020, becoming the first woman to hold the position.
Election Integrity Initiatives
Shenna Bellows has taken steps to make elections in Maine fair and secure. She made sure every election spot had an equal mix of Democratic and Republican workers, so everyone could watch ballots being counted.
Image Credit: GettyimagesThis helps people trust the election process more. Bellows also focused on keeping elections safe by training workers on how to handle threats and improving cybersecurity.
She supports automatic voter registration and ranked-choice voting to make voting easier and fairer for everyone in Maine.
Disqualification of Donald Trump
Shenna Bellows decided former President Donald Trump couldn’t be on the state’s primary ballot because of his role in the Capitol attack, using a part of the 14th Amendment.
This made Maine the second state to not let Trump run in the primary, after Colorado. Bellows said Trump’s actions were enough to disqualify him from office because they were seen as an insurrection.
This decision caused a lot of debate; some, like Republican Senator Susan Collins, thought it was up to the voters, not Bellows, to decide, while others appreciated Bellows’ careful approach.
People were divided, with some supporting her for sticking to democratic values and others upset about limiting voters’ choices.
Role in Ranked Choice Voting
Ranked choice voting (RCV) policy enables a voter to make several choices at once and rank the candidates in priority.
This means that in case no candidate surpasses the half of votes for the first choice, the candidate with least votes will be removed and the remaining descriptions are given to the next succeeding ones which the voter values most.
This process goes on until a candidate is in the possession of a majority, and this means that the people’s vote is happy hence rejecting the ‘’spoiler’’ candidates.
Shenna Bellows has advocated for RCV in Maine especially while serving in the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting.
She has two areas of focus; public enlightenment on the system and how to ensure the utilization of the system for state elections which has enhanced voter turnout and ensured that the election mirrors the choice of the majority.
Cybersecurity Measures for Elections
Cybersecurity is crucial in today’s elections because technology makes them vulnerable to threats like hacking and spreading false information.
To keep democracy safe, it’s important to protect voting systems and voter information from bad actors.
Under Secretary Shenna Bellows in Maine, steps have been taken to improve election security, such as training officials, updating voting systems, and working with national agencies.
Bellows also focuses on educating the public about online safety to help both officials and voters stay protected.
Collaboration with National Organizations
Shenna Bellows is an active NASS member who is a member of the Elections, Cybersecurity and the Business Services committees.
She is also a co-chair of the Business Services Committee and collaborates with other officials from different states to enhance electoral systems across the country.
In NASS, her participation results in the exchange of promising practices and new ideas, affecting election policies in Maine sharply.
For instance, the In the 2021 NASS Task Force on Vote Verification where she served as a member of the bipartisan team made it easier to get methods to increase the accuracy of the results on votes.
These actions do more than assist in improving the security of Maine’s elections; and they place Bellows at the center of discussions pertaining to election security and independence nationwide.
Challenges Faced During Her Tenure
Shenna Bellows, the Maine Secretary of State, has quite a number of issues and controversies solved, and after she shut out Donald Trump from the state’s primary due to his part in the attack on the capitol.
This decision led to a lot of threats to her, including doxxing and swatting, which demonstrated the ferocious discourse over the election’s truth and political accountability.
They have shaped Bellows, impacting her to uphold constitutional rights’ and freedoms in a politically challenging context.
The experience of Shenna Bellows, who served as Maine’s Secretary of State, said that it’s very challenging to manage the elections in the era of polarized politics.
Her firm commitment to democracy even in the face of difficult conditions and an uncompromising opposition underscores the work of election officials to ensure the integrity of the elections.