Maine’s secretary of state was the sufferer of a “swatting” name to her dwelling, the authorities mentioned, the newest politician to be focused in current weeks by folks reporting fake crimes to the police, hoping to impress closely armed responses.

A hoax name was positioned on Friday night time, only a day after the secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, barred Donald J. Trump from the state’s poll, a politically fraught choice that drew criticism from Republicans throughout the nation.

The state police mentioned that within the name, a person claimed to have damaged into Ms. Bellows’s dwelling in Manchester, simply outdoors the capital metropolis of Augusta. State troopers searched the residence, however didn’t discover something suspicious. Ms. Bellows was not dwelling on the time, the authorities mentioned.

In a press release, the state police mentioned that the incident was below investigation and that officers have been “working with our law enforcement partners to provide special attention to any and all appropriate locations.” No arrests have been made.

Ms. Bellows drew nationwide consideration after she dominated that the previous president didn’t qualify for the poll due to his function within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Bellows, a Democrat, defended her choice, saying that it was not one she “made lightly” and that Maine election regulation required her to behave.

The ban, which is going through a courtroom problem, made Maine the second state, after Colorado, to disqualify Mr. Trump from the first poll this yr.

In a press release on Saturday, Ms. Bellows wrote that she had obtained escalating threats since her choice, and that her dwelling handle was leaked whereas she and her husband have been out of city for the vacation weekend.

“The nonstop threatening communications the people who work for me endured all day yesterday is unacceptable,” she wrote on Facebook, including, “We should be able to agree to disagree on important issues without threats and violence.”

Swatting incidents have risen lately, and advances in expertise have made it simpler for perpetrators to make 911 calls sound extra credible. In May, the F.B.I. formed a national database to trace such assaults throughout the nation.

In the times earlier than the hoax name towards Ms. Bellows, quite a few different high-profile politicians mentioned swatters had focused their properties.

Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, mentioned that his dwelling in Naples, Fla., was focused on Dec. 27 whereas he and his spouse have been out to dinner. “These criminals wasted the time & resources of our law enforcement in a sick attempt to terrorize my family,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

On Dec. 25, a hoax name despatched the police to the house of Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, in line with a police report. Ms. Wu told WBUR that she had been the goal of a number of swatting calls since she turned mayor in 2021.

“When there are true emergencies that happen and there are resources being deployed in this way, it is concerning,” Ms. Wu advised the news outlet.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican from Georgia who was ousted from the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus over the summer, mentioned that she was swatted on Christmas Day, and never for the primary time.

“After today, I have been swatted 8 times but the F.B.I. can’t seem to figure out who is responsible for the swatting,” she wrote on X. “Thankfully my local police are far too smart, know me well, and know exactly what these swatting calls are.”

In previous instances, the calls have turned lethal: In 2019, a California man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to creating dozens of pretend calls, together with one which led to a Kansas resident being fatally shot by the police. A yr later, a person in Bethpage, Tenn., died of a coronary heart assault after the police swarmed his dwelling following a faux emergency name.

Hoax calls to regulation enforcement have additionally been weaponized towards tech executives, journalists and places of worship.

Livia Albeck-Ripka contributed reporting.