FARMINGTON – The Franklin County Democrats hosted guest-speaker Matthew Dunlap, Maine’s Secretary of State, at their first-Sunday-of-the-month meeting on April 7. Dunlap not only gave an overview of the highlights of his years of service but also widened the scope of his talk with a number of colorful historical anecdotes.
Dunlap is uniquely familiar with this history because part of his job includes administering the State archives, an aspect of his work he obviously relishes. The biggest piece of his job, though, is overseeing the State’s elections, a role which likewise has made him privy to some dramatic and historical developments. Recently, Dunlap’s office has been at the center of the Ranked Choice Voting saga. Only half-joking, he likened the high-pressure atmosphere in the Secretary of State’s office during the period between the June 2018 vote in support of RCV and its use in 2018’s November election to that of ground control workers in the film Apollo 13. Dunlap made a point of highlighting the stellar work of his staff in pulling the new voting system together without a hitch.
In the aftermath of the 2016 election and the discovery that Russia breached state and county agencies in the lead up to it, Secretary of State’s offices have been in contact with the Department of Homeland Security in ways they never had been before. Dunlap expressed confidence that no votes were altered in the 2016 election and additionally that Maine’s electoral system is quite secure because, unlike some other states, it is paper-based.
Another consequence of the 2016 election was the establishment of Donald Trump’s Voter Fraud Commission, where Dunlap served as one of only three Democrats. He said that he knew going into the project that Trump’s claims of voter fraud were factually untrue, and from his position as a committee member he was able to see firsthand how it was run. Dunlap ended up suing the commission for failing to follow Federal Advisory Committee Act rules, citing its lack of transparency, hiding information from its Democratic members, and its commitment to a pre-determined outcome. The committee ended up folding without having found any evidence of widespread voter fraud.
At one point, Dunlap mentioned the controversy we sometimes see in college towns like Farmington over students from away voting locally. He said the two questions he comes back to are very simple. “Are they American citizens?” “Do they have the right to vote?” Dunlap specified that low-income, elderly, young, and migratory Mainers may face challenges to voting, but assuming the answers to his two questions are “Yes” and “Yes” it’s his job to ensure their access to the vote.
The Franklin County Democrats hold monthly meetings, often inviting speakers to attend as part of the agenda. To learn more, visit https://franklincountydemocratsme.weebly.com/.
