A report that hundreds of ballots were sent to the home of a woman in Penobscot County has prompted an investigation by state authorities, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ office confirmed Wednesday.

Some 250 blank ballots were turned into the Newburgh town office Tuesday evening by a woman who had reportedly received them inside an Amazon package shipped to her home.

The incident was first reported by the Maine Wire, a conservative media outlet affiliated with the Maine Policy Institute, and was quickly seized on by both Republican leaders and supporters of referendum Question 1, which would establish voter ID and make a number of changes to absentee voting.

“Safe and secure elections are my top priority. As soon as we became aware of allegations of ballots being received outside of the appropriate chain of custody, I immediately initiated an investigation through my Secretary of State’s law enforcement division,” Bellows said in a statement. “Law enforcement is working diligently to determine who is responsible, and they will be held accountable. We will not stop until we have answers.”

A spokesperson for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, which is responsible for prosecuting election crimes, said the office could “neither comment on, nor confirm the existence of any investigations.”

Katie Flores, who serves as Newburgh’s town clerk and manager, could not be reached for an interview about the ballots.

“We’re supposed to say no comment,” a town employee told a reporter Wednesday.

Republicans, meanwhile, already are calling for an investigation into Bellows, who has been subjected to criticism by conservatives for refusing to hand over Maine voters’ personal information to the federal government. The Trump administration’s Justice Department has sued the state, as well as several others that have refused to comply with the order.

Jim Deyermond, chairman of the Maine Republican Party, said in a statement “this incident should be treated as a potential crime.” He called for the Department of Justice to “assume jurisdiction over this matter immediately.”

Republicans have ramped up their scrutiny of Maine elections in recent months, largely to generate support for Question 1. The party claimed earlier this year that dozens of Mainers had cast multiple ballots, but an investigation by Bellows’ office concluded in July that there were no instances of dual voting.

Proponents of Question 1 on Wednesday described the Newburgh incident as “a total collapse of ballot chain-of-custody” and called for Bellows’ resignation Wednesday.

“This latest debacle proves beyond a doubt why Maine needs Voter ID,” Voter ID for ME campaign manager Alex Titcomb said in a statement. “Without it, our elections remain wide open to abuse and fraud.”

It’s not clear, however, whether the mailing of bulk ballots, whether to town offices or citizens by mistake, has anything to do with voter registration.

David Farmer, the campaign manager for No on 1, called for a “thorough investigation” of the incident but said the issue is entirely separate from the issue of voter ID.

“There is no tie here. There is nothing on the ballot that addresses this issue, which is already clearly illegal if the allegations prove to be true,” he said.