This week, Alex is joined by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. Secretary Bellows discusses her past work in Maine politics and nonprofits and her new role as a nonpartisan constitutional officer.
Podcast Transcript:
AS 00:06
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Serra Speaks. I could not be more excited right now, because the one and only Shenna Bellows, our first female Secretary of State joins us today. Welcome, Shenna.
SB 00:21
Thank you so much. What a pleasure to be with you.
AS 00:23
I am so excited because the whole point of this is to really highlight women in their careers. And you have gone through several points of change in your career that I've been privileged to watch. I just made a comment right before we started this, that if you get old enough, you start to know people's past lives. I feel like I met you, when you are working for....
SB 00:49
Head of the ACLU. I was 29 years old when I became executive director of Maine's ACLU. And I think we probably engaged either on the Maine Web Discriminate Campaign in 2005. Or marriage equality, working in 2009. And then in 2012. So we've been working together on a long time on social justice issues.
AS 01:11
I had that sign in my yard, the marriage equality sign back in the day. So tell me about what I'm really curious about. Because so many women ponder, but, you're the one who did it. Making that transition from policy work, or another piece of work, to running for office? So many women I know are like I would run for office, but they're afraid or it seems insurmountable. Or how did you overcome that? How did you make the decision? No, my voice is really important. And I'm ready to go.
SB 01:54
So I'm going to share a story I shared with some Girl Scouts earlier this week. When I was in kindergarten, the teacher asked us all what we wanted to be when we grew up. And we went around the room with a circle. And everyone said, Teacher, Teacher, Teacher, teacher, I knew I wanted to be president or an artist. But I was too scared to say it. So I said, teacher. And I remember that because I didn't speak my truth. And I regretted it. And so I tell girls, don't be afraid to speak your truth. Be honest with others, but also with yourself. So I've always been interested in public policy. When I was a girl, later on, I had the opportunity to go to a state Democratic Convention and in Presque Isle and serve as a page for Senator George Mitchell for probably an afternoon, but to me, that was a huge deal getting to meet him. And then later in high school, I get to go to Washington DC and visit senator Olympia Snowe's office and that was also a huge inspiration. So working in public policy, I did that work just as you and I have collaborated, because we want to make a difference. We want to make this world, our community better for everyone. I believe so strongly in the promise of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I had a copy of the Bill of Rights on my bedroom wall as a kid, and making that promise real. And then politics is just a natural extension of that. But it is scary. It is scary to say out loud, I want to run for office, I want to serve, to put your name on a ballot. And I think that can be a huge barrier, especially for women sometimes who are not always encouraged to go for it, to have that ambition.
AS 03:44
So then what do you say to the women who are shying away from it, even though they've contemplated it?
SB 03:52
It's okay to have those fears, and that trepidation, and you should still run, and definitely building strong networks. So in running for Secretary of State, I had some friends that discouraged me from running. They were concerned I couldn't win. And so I put that dream aside for several months. And then I went back to it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I asked some other friends. Similarly, very well, meaning said don't run, you're a state senator, you're chairing the Labor Committee. Why would you give that up and potentially lose? And then a few months went by and a friend called me and said, Why are there no women running for Secretary of State? It's been 200 years, and we haven't had a woman serve. And I said, Well, I thought about it, people discouraged me, they said I would lose and she was like, what? You should run and it's worth doing, even if you don't win. And I was so glad that she encouraged me to rethink that. And I needed to hear those words of encouragement. So definitely building those strong networks of people who will support you. Whether you're wanting to win or lose, and I lost my first political race. And that's okay. It's important actually. I met briefly with Senator Maggie Hassan yesterday, and she lost her first political race, and then she became governor of New Hampshire and then Senator. So I think that's really important to recognize. It's okay to fail. It's trying is really important.
AS 05:24
Maggie Hasson is so impressive. Our paths cross back when I did work in New Hampshire a number of years ago, and I had the privilege of having lunch with her way back. I mean, this was before she was probably thinking of, you know, all that's accomplished now. And one thing that always struck me about her, which is so true for so many women that I know that are successful in the political world is she's so down to earth. I mean, there is no pretense about her. And there's really no pretense about you, either or Betsy Sweet, or any of these other women in the political spectrum. And I think that that genuine quality really comes through when one speaks with you and one speaks with Betsy and Maggie, Hassan and all these other people. What do you think that is? Is that a tie that binds? Is that something identifiable with the community or voters? What do you think that is?
SB 06:21
I think that is something special about Maine and probably New Hampshire as well that Mainers value authenticity, we value people who are down to earth who are real, and we vote the person, not the party. And I think that's hugely important. And there aren't as many barriers in a place like me. So another thing that I tell young girls that come and visit and boys at school kids, visiting the secretary's office, is I grew up without electricity or running water until I was in the fifth grade. I grew up poor. And yet, in a place like mean, you have these opportunities, I mean, look at some of our leaders in the statehouse, you know, Troy Jackson, former logger, or Speaker Fecteau, you know, son of a single mom who struggled. And I think that those stories are really important for kids to hear to realize that you really can be anything you want to be. If you are in a place like being where we are so supportive of that authentic people being their best selves, or trying to be their best selves.
AS 07:31
Mainers can quickly identify the superficial, just like they do the authentic. I mean, that's why kitchen table politics probably still rule in Maine, right? I mean.
SB 07:42
Absolutely. When I ran for a state senator, the first time and was successful, I knocked on just over 10,000 doors. And it was precisely that. It was knocking on doors and saying what issues really matter to you and having genuine conversations with people, whether it was about their kids and their futures or property taxes or arsenic in the water or civil rights, there was such a range of issues and such important conversations. And one of the women I met on the campaign trail called me this morning at 7:30am. Because she has friends in Afghanistan and wanted to be connected with people trying to who could help them potentially get out. So I think those connections, those genuine connections really matter in Maine.
AS 08:31
Just curious about that. Has what's going on over there professionally affected your work at the Secretary of State? I'm quite sure it has affected your heart as it has all of us, especially thinking about the women and the children. What interfacing have you had in your current role with what's going on in Afghanistan? That you can talk about?
08:56
To be honest, it has been fairly limited because it is a federal issue. So with this particular individual, I connected her with Representative Pingree's office because I know our congressional delegation is working very hard with the Biden administration and the military, in terms of the rescue and relief efforts. And it's interesting as Secretary of State, some people do think about that as potentially having an international diplomacy role like the secretary of state at the national level. And in fact, in Maine, as you well now we're in charge of elections, corporations, archives, and the Bureau of motor vehicles. So most of the calls that we receive on a daily basis, quite frankly, are about motor vehicles. Can I renew my license? Can I get my title? How do I register my vehicle because, you know, I purchased it out of state? You know those types of questions. But we do have a director of constituent services and we will answer any question that comes to us and try to make sure that people get connected to the offices in the state, or at the federal level that can actually provide that support and get people's problems solved. And I think that's also important in a place like Maine to is that we're not going to say, oh, here, call this number instead or, you know, we're the wrong office, we can't help you. We're going to try to resolve your challenges as well. And make sure that you're genuinely connected with people who can, can help you solve your problems.
AS 10:24
And all of that is completely nonpartisan work.
SB 10:27
Yes.
AS 10:27
And you're dealing with your constituency now is everybody. Tell me what that's been like... transitioning from work that's been partisan to a, you know, a nonpartisan role.
SB 10:40
I think it's been really rewarding. And in some ways, it goes back to the work that I did when I was at the ACLU. We used to say that we had no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent principles. And when I was working on marriage equality, I helped organize out of my office at the ACLU republicans for the freedom to marry because at that time, we were concerned, it really needed to be a bipartisan effort. And so this work is really returning to those roots and thinking about how do you serve everyone? And how do you take politics out of it? So I was talking to a Democratic Representative today who asked me my opinion about a Republican Representative. And I laughed, and I said, in my current role, I don't feel comfortable sharing opinions about particular candidates or weighing in on that, because I will be overseeing the elections and so that non partisanship is really important. And also, it's a privilege to get to help people from both parties to make sure that our constituent services for our the Republican senators and representatives is very strong.
AS 11:49
What are the things that you really want to accomplish as Secretary of State that differ from how things have been done in the past? What are some of your goals in your current role?
SB 11:59
I think it is really important to make sure that everyone has who is eligible, every Maine citizen is able to register to vote, and cast their vote, because our democracy is so foundational to everything. And so I've been thinking a lot about how we leverage technology to better serve the public. I had two goals when I came in as Secretary of State. Technology, modernization to better serve the people of Maine, and equity and inclusion, to make sure that in our department, we are representing the communities we seek to serve. And in our services, we are truly reaching everyone, no matter who they are, where they come from, or where they live. So
AS 12:44
talk to me about diversity and inclusion in voting. I think there's a perception in Maine, that we don't have that problem, because we are such a white state. So how could we possibly have problems with diversity and inclusion? Madam Secretary of State, can you explain to us how and why that's an issue.
SB 13:08
So I think when we think about equity and inclusion in elections, or at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, it's thinking about how do we make our services accessible to all people, convenient and secure? And with accessibility, we need to think about how do people live their lives? And so the traditional idea that you would just go and vote on Election Day between the hours of, you know, nine to five, or eight to eight even do not work for people who are working long shifts, who may be commuting, or who may have busy lives with children, and jobs and school. And so some of the things that Maine has done, for example, no excuse absentee voting up to 30 days prior to the election, so that you can go into your municipal office on your own time, and cast a ballot in person absentee, or absentee voting by mail so that you can apply for and receive that ballot and cast that vote. Those are really important reforms, which over 62% of Mainers used in 2020, that increase accessibility. So then it's thinking about how do we remove barriers to registration? So in lots of other states, there are registration deadlines, there are strict limitations on the process of registration. And in Maine, we try to make that fairly accessible. So one of the things that we did this year is we expanded the number of documents that you could use to show your identification to identify who you are and to show your residency to include student IDs because I mean, it is legal if you're attending college and university and you declare your residency to register and vote. But students don't necessarily know that and they have a student ID But they may not have other documentation that shows that they're living here in the state of Maine. And so I thought that was really important in terms of accessibility and inclusion. Online voter registration, then suddenly people can do it from their phone or from the comfort of their own home. Maybe they don't know their local town clerk or can't get to the clerk's office during limited office hours because of their work and childcare or education schedule...
AS 15:26
Or physical capacity to be able to get somewhere you know, if someone's homebound
SB 15:31
Totally. Absolutely true. Disability Rights me and actually sue the state of Maine and 2020. And I am so glad they brought this to our attention. But we were not truly making accessible voting for people with print disabilities, so people who are legally visually impaired and so we developed a system online, very similar to what we use with our Oucava voters, which are overseas voters, people who are living in the military or elsewhere to allow people with print disabilities to access an online voting system so that they could cast their ballot from the security of their own home. So we need to be creative and thinking about what are the barriers that keep people from being able to vote? And how do we make that happen for all of them?
AS 16:19
Talk to me about when are we all going to be able to vote online? Because I think there's a whole lot of people that kind of mentioned that in passing and I know there's lots of feelings about this issue. Can you talk me through it? As far as from the secretary's office, what the thought is, obviously, fraud is everyone's first concern, right?
SB 16:41
So it's important to recognize the paper ballot really is the gold standard and election security because when you have paper ballots, you can go back and do a recount. You can have external observers there. The process of vote verification and verification and certification of the results is more secure in some ways. And so even with our Oucava voters, there is a production of a paper ballot that is being used in tabulation. And so as we think about online voting for the Oucava voters and for voters with disabilities, it's really important that there be a paper ballot component, a verifiable paper ballot component. And so should that be expanded to all people, we need to think about every aspect of cybersecurity. So make no mistake, our elections are targeted by foreign actors. That is something that I've been briefed on with the cybersecurity infrastructure security agency, CISA.
AS 17:45
State level elections?
SB 17:48
Federal elections more likely, honestly, they were talking to us about the 2020 threats and attacks and how we prepare for 2022 and how we prepare for 2024. And so cybersecurity is a hugely important issue. And when you get into the area of online voting, you really need to think through what are the potential threats? And how do we protect against those before moving forward with doing that for all people. Similarly, in all of our systems, our online voter registration system or automatic voter registration system, our online services at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, where we do licensing, credentialing, we need to be thinking about how do we protect from external attacks. And fortunately, at the department, Secretary of State in Maine, we have a fabulous director of infrastructure and security and an IT team that is thinking about this every single day. Thinking about how do we protect ourselves? How do we build resiliency into our systems to withstand any hostile attacks? And how do we prepare for the future? These are the considerations that we also need to take into effect because as important as accessibility is the integrity and security of your ballot and your vote once it's cast, and it's important to hold both of those principles in mind as we're developing reforms and new systems.
AS 19:14
Last voting question, how important is the role of absentee ballots going to be in the future for Maine? I know they've grown in importance. Do you see that trend continuing?
SB 19:27
I do. I think absentee voting is incredibly important. Some states have moved to direct mail balloting, which means that they're literally sending out the ballot without the absentee application. Maine's constitution doesn't currently permit that. But it's something that I think is worth exploring because of the way people live their lives. So again, I love going to the polls on Election Day, and I have been fortunate that my work has always permitted me to take that time without using vacation time, without taking paid time off or unpaid time off to go and vote at the polls. But I recognize that many people do not have that flexibility in their work schedules or in their lives. And so that's why I think it's so important to maintain and strengthen flexibility for people to be able to cast their ballot at a time and place that is convenient for them. That's why in 2021, we codified one of the major reforms for the pandemic, we put in place, options for absentee ballot, drop boxes, secure drop boxes all over the state moving forward, because we think that's important.
AS 20:40
So tell me a little bit more about you. So you wanted to be president, when you were in kindergarten. Do you still want to be president?
20:50
I will say this, I love being Secretary of State. And I have been really fortunate in my career, since the Peace Corps to always be in my dream job. And not everyone can say that. And I feel really fortunate that I've had the opportunity to keep pursuing whatever my current dreams and goals are at the time, and I love serving the people of Maine. I really enjoy constituent services and helping people solve problems. And I love public policy and thinking through how do we shape and change our laws for the better, and being involved in marriage equality and Civil Rights and Privacy, which has always been a bipartisan favorite of mine working on internet privacy, for example, and voting rights. Those are issues that I intend to keep fighting for, regardless of where I am in terms of positions in government.
AS 21:47
What are the core principles that are super important to you that keep you motivated? What inspires you? What principles do you have that you follow? What are some rules of the road from Shenna Bellows?
SB 22:00
First and foremost, trying to tell the truth, especially to yourself. Having the courage to recognize that you're going to be afraid of things in this life and just try to move through those fears, and doubts. And then, and it sounds so corny, but I truly love the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I love the ideas of equal protection under the law for all people, which is in the 14th amendment. The First Amendment, freedom of speech and association and freedom of thought. I just think that those make us so unique in this world. And, you know, having lived in the Peace Corps in Panama, and having studied abroad in Costa Rica and Brazil, and recognizing that those freedoms are really special and worth fighting for. I think that's something that has been sort of my guideposts in my work for a long time. And I think that's where you find common ground right? In talking with, you know, so in my family, half my family doesn't care about politics, but of the half that do. We're pretty evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. And yet, we're all family, we all love each other, we have these conversations, and sometimes they get a little bit heated. But what what binds us together, what we share, are those values that are laid out in the constitution in the Bill of Rights that haven't been perfect. I mean, let's be real. When the Constitution was written, it was written for white male property owners, they did not envision a female Secretary of State. But we have worked really hard as communities to shape and change that over time to fully realize those values.
AS 23:54
Who are some of your heroes, whether you know them or not, I'm sure there's people that you can give a shout out to here who really impacted you positively in your career that you know, but who are some of those people? And who are some of the people that you've admired from afar?
SB 24:10
So when I was first elected, I thought about whose portraits I wanted to have in my office.
AS 24:17
That's a good one.
SB 24:18
And I reached out to Robert Shetterly, a Maine artist who does a series called Americans who tell the truth, and asked if I could have some of my civil rights and voting rights heroes on the walls on loan. And he said, yes. And so the four paintings that I picked, first were Francis Perkins, so commissioner of labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, responsible for so many reforms during the depression that really have shaped our economy today. And having chaired the Labor Committee in the State Senate that was important to me. Sojourner Truth and advocate for civil rights and women's rights. Frederick Douglass, who was an abolitionist speaking out against slavery, an African American who also was a strong and staunch defender of women's rights, really involved in all of the women at Seneca Falls and moving forward for women's equality as well as racial equality. And the late congressman John Lewis, who was author of the Voting Rights Act.
SB 25:25
Good trouble indeed. And so those are some of my heroes. We changed the portraits out in March, I recruited people who had been at the March on Washington. So I kept Congressman Lewis and brought in Dr. Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks, and I just think, thinking through who are the people, you know. Congressman Lewis was beaten in the march from Selma to Montgomery. He was jailed, as was Dr. King, but they were willing to risk everything for the values of freedom and liberty for all.
AS 25:25
Good trouble.
AS 26:08
John Lewis is a huge person for me too. And I always remember he said, read everything.
SB 26:12
What a great quote.
AS 26:13
Which brings me to my last question for you. What do you read? I ask everybody on this show, because it fascinates me what women leaders bring into their minds. I have a variety not that I'm a woman leader, but I have a variety.
SB 26:32
You are a woman leader, of course you're a woman leader.
AS 26:34
We'll have that conversation off my phone. But um, I I'm like, I love a wide variety of things. It starts at Bravo TV and kind of ends at the Wall Street Journal. So I'm, I'm a big mishmash, I take it all in. What do you take in on a regular basis? What's your intellectual diet, like music, writings, you name it.
SB 26:57
So I have been a big reader ever since I was a kid.
AS 27:00
I can't tell.
SB 27:01
And one of my superpowers is that I read extraordinarily quickly, which is both like a gift. But it's also limiting sometimes, because sometimes you don't absorb everything that you read very quickly. I will say that every night, my go to are mysteries, you know, sometimes you just need to disengage the brain. So I can't go to Twitter after eight o'clock at night, I've gotta stay off social media and disengage. But I think in terms of books that have really influenced me, or thinking about what I seek out, I'm doing a lot of racial justice reading right now. And I think if I had to pick a favorite author, it is the late African American lesbian science fiction writer Octavia Butler. So if I had to pick something that I would be stuck on a desert island and forced to reread over and over again, I think that would be it. But I think Ibram Kendi is really influential. Actually, John Lewis has a graphic book that he produced before his death called March that is really phenomenal. And those are some of the things that I read. Also the news. Yeah, insatiable consumer of news.
AS 28:25
What's your news source? What's your go to news source for? Not for local, but kind of for national?
SB 28:31
Washington Post.
AS 28:32
Yeah. So I'm a huge fan of the PBS news hour.
SB 28:37
I love NPR.
AS 28:39
It's actual, like news, like back in the Walter Cronkite day.
SB 28:42
And it's objective.
AS 28:43
Yeah, it's very, to everyone's dismay, which I love. Anything else you'd like to say to especially little girls, who might be listening to this with their parents.
29:01
I was a Girl Scout. So it was really fun to host the Girl Scouts in my office just this week, and I always tell young girls you can be whatever it is that you want to be in this world. So dream big, and don't give up on yourself. And even if you doubt yourself, move through those doubts, because the doubts are absolutely normal and usual, but it's that courage to move through it, to work through it and be your best self and love what you do. Because if you love what you do, you're likely to be good at what you do. And that is a recipe for happiness.
AS 29:43
Madam Secretary, thank you so much for your time today. And thank you to all of you out there listening to us on Serra Speaks.
AS 29:58
Thank you for joining us. for this episode of Serra Speaks where we talk with women about business, not about women in business. Please be sure to hit subscribe and stay tuned for upcoming episodes.