Inspired by Ronald Reagan’s message of personal responsibility and financial opportunity, I started my journey in Republican activism 44 years ago. It was a career that would reach its apex as state chairman of the Maine Republican Party.

Mark J. Ellis

About the author

Mark J. Ellis served as chairman of the Maine Republican Party chair from 2005-2009. He lives in Hallowell.

For decades, I supported Republican candidates from city halls to the White House as a volunteer. I worked to add value to the processes of candidate recruitment, voter outreach, and elections. Utilizing my education in technology, I led our state’s efforts to digitize voter records for the GOP’s state and national committees and helped Maine’s secretary of state define specifications for the statewide voter database that is in use today.

Over time, I have seen electoral victory and defeat in equal measure, and I have experienced moments of great satisfaction along with moments of deep disappointment.

The deepest disappointment came in 2016 as I witnessed the GOP nominate Donald Trump, a morally ambiguous individual, to the highest office in the land. Trump’s questionable character ultimately led him to being convicted on 34 counts of business fraud committed while serving as president.

For the third time, the GOP nominated Trump for president this year. Leveraging baseless claims of election fraud, Trump encouraged his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol and to disrupt the constitutionally prescribed task of certifying the electoral vote tally on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen resulted in civil cases in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. In each in every one of those cases, the courts ruled against the former president and his party; the courts found no credible evidence of election fraud. While I find some solace in the justice served by these court rulings, I lament that Trump’s actions have resulted in the massive erosion of voter confidence in our election system.

Even in Maine, misinformation has raised suspicions about our ballot-counting machines and our absentee voting procedures. Social media is alight with memes that erroneously claim that our ballot-counting machines are connected to the internet, thereby making them susceptible to manipulation. The truth is that these machines are not connected to the internet and they are thoroughly and transparently tested for accuracy.

There are social media posts that maliciously suggest that mailboxes have become a means to stuff ballot boxes with fraudulent votes. The truth is that Maine’s mail-in balloting system, also known as absentee voting, has served our citizens, especially our deployed military personnel, for decades without incident.

My decades of work with election officials of all levels, from the municipal level to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State, have given me confidence that Maine’s elections are safe, secure, and free from fraud. It saddens me to look on as Donald Trump attempts to undermine confidence in our election process for his own personal gain.

During my service as chair of the Maine Republican Party, the most satisfying experiences came from my work with candidates and office holders who placed the needs of their constituents — the people — above their own to serve for the betterment of our state and nation.

The candidates and public servants I admire the most understand that the path to success in public policy is paved with the nurturing  of strong relationships and engaging in civil and meaningful debate. They honor the station of their office and the rule of law by steering well clear of any situation that could throw their integrity and intentions into question.

I find all these qualities in Vice President Kamala Harris and, while I am certain that we will disagree on some policies going forward, I am inspired by her integrity, experience, and spirit of collaboration.

For the first time in my life, I will cast my vote for a Democrat for president of the United States of America. Harris has earned my support and, confidently and enthusiastically, I believe we can count on her to help our nation heal the wounds inflicted upon us during one of the darkest and most divisive periods of our history.

As a former chair of the Maine Republican Party, I am pleased to join three of my predecessors — Robert A.G. Monks, Ken Cole and Ted O’Meara — in endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

I encourage my Republican friends to put the nation’s needs ahead of the party’s by voting for Harris for president.