A Maine voter claims she mistakenly changed her voter registration after being misled by a ‘No Labels’ canvasser

BUXTON, Maine (WMTW) - A Maine voter claims that she mistakenly changed her party affiliation after being misled by a canvasser from No Labels.

The relatively new party is trying to make its way onto the ballot in Maine. The group seeks to fight partisanship and is largely comprised of moderates and independents who encourage working across the aisle.

Buxton resident Keegan DeLong was walking around downtown Portland with her co-worker when they were approached by a volunteer from No Labels.

“She was very personable,” DeLong said. “I enjoyed talking to her. She had a lot of great points.”

DeLong says the canvasser asked them to sign a petition in support of the party and handed them each a clipboard with a voter registration card and a list of names below it.

“Both my coworker and I told the girl, like, we don’t want our parties to be changed and she assured me that that wasn’t the case,” DeLong said. “They were just going to get a gauge on how many people would be interested in being in the party.”

After some reluctance, she filled out the form. It wasn’t until she received a letter from the secretary of state informing her of the change that she realized that she had switched her party affiliation.

Then she received a letter from No Labels, saying in part, “Receiving this kind of letter from the Secretary of State can be unnerving, and we want to make one thing clear: You did nothing wrong when you switched your party affiliation to No Labels.”

DeLong says that the letter made her start to question the group’s motive.

“It was like gaslighting, almost,” DeLong said.

She believes she was misled by No Labels and plans to change her party affiliation back after the mandatory three-month waiting period.

“Looking back on it, I am just like, how did I let myself not say, like, no, I’m good on that,” DeLong said.

In response to these claims, a spokesperson from No Labels told Maine’s Total Coverage, “Of course, it is possible in such a large-scale project that some voters may have mistaken No Labels’ effort for a petition drive and/or that a small number of No Labels’ organizers could have deviated from the clearly written instructions they were given.”

A spokesperson for Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says their office has received more than 300 calls from confused voters who claim they didn’t mean to change their party affiliation.