AUGUSTA — Federal authorities are now involved in the state’s investigation into claims that hundreds of blank ballots were mailed to a Penobscot County woman’s home last Tuesday, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows confirmed.

Bellows also disclosed that on the same day the Newburgh woman said she received 250 blank ballots in an Amazon package, Ellsworth officials reported that a recent shipment of absentee ballots was missing the same number of ballots.

At a news conference at the State House on Monday, the first day of in-person absentee voting, Bellows declined to discuss specifics about the ongoing investigation but suggested “bad actors” may have tampered with the ballots.

She also stressed that “Maine elections are free, safe and secure.”

“It seems that there may have been attempts to interrupt the distribution of ballots and ballot materials, but we’re stronger and better than anyone who tries to do our elections harm,” she said.

Bellows, a Democrat, also defended absentee voting in Maine, saying that absentee ballots are secured by a number of checks along the way. Bulk ballots and envelopes are sent to municipalities via tracked UPS and USPS packages. All absentee ballots must be returned individually in a signed return envelope that’s paired with the voter. Those are tracked by town clerks at every step, she said.

“Even if the most enterprising criminal were able to fabricate Maine ballots or Maine absentee ballot envelopes, or if that chain of custody were broken, our elections would remain free, safe and secure because of the checks and balances in absentee voting itself,” Bellows said.

Blank ballots are printed in Augusta and mailed directly to municipalities in clearly marked boxes, Bellows said. They are shipped separately from ballot return envelopes. Town officials must sign off that they received their shipments of ballots and envelopes. Any irregularities are reported and investigated.

As a result, Bellows said there was very little, if any, chance the 250 ballots received in Newburgh would ever have been counted.

“Whatever happened last week — and we will find out what happened — will not impact our elections,” Bellows said.

The Newburgh woman reported the ballot mishap first to the Maine Wire, a conservative media outlet affiliated with the Maine Policy Institute, and to her Republican state legislator before alerting the town office or the Department of the Secretary of State, Bellows said. The Maine Wire reached out to Bellows for comment at 1:31 a.m. saying “they would post immediately,” Bellows said.

The Maine Wire’s report has been cited and promoted repeatedly by the Maine Republican Party and proponents of Question 1, which would enact a number of restrictions on absentee and mail-in voting in Maine, as evidence that Maine’s elections are vulnerable to fraud and tampering.

Many prominent Maine conservatives also have called for Bellows to resign or be investigated by the federal government over the mishandled ballots.

“The possibility that valid Maine voting ballots may have ended up in the hands of an unwitting recipient is beyond the realm of accidental,” Jim Deyermond, chairman of the Maine Republican Party, said last week. “This incident should be treated as a potential crime and a crime scene.”

Bellows only took questions from credentialed members of the media during her news conference Monday, refusing to answer questions from the Maine Wire or Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, who is involved in the Yes on 1 campaign.

Opponents of Question 1 have also called for an investigation into the incident but have said there is no tie between bulk ballots being mistakenly mailed to the wrong address and anything related to the referendum question.

Bellows said both Newburgh and Ellsworth have been reissued ballots in the last week. All but four Maine towns have received their absentee ballots, she said.

In addition to the FBI, Bellows said the investigative arm of the United States Postal Service, Maine State Police and the Office of the Maine Attorney General are also assisting her office with the investigation.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, was asked about the issue when she was in Portland Monday taking questions from reporters outside a recently renovated Red Cross facility. She said that blank ballots should not be found anywhere but in town and city clerk’s offices.

“This is such a bizarre and troubling incident … so it definitely warrants an investigation,” Collins said.

Staff Writer John Terhune contributed to this report.