Maine

Articles about voting issues in Maine.

Loophole in Clean Election law allows private funds | The Portland Press Herald

May 152012

For more than a decade, critics have complained of a loophole in Maine’s Clean Election law. Candidates who pay for their campaigns using taxpayers’ funds — and thus avoid accusations of being beholden to special interests — can and do raise thousands of dollars in private donations for their personal political action committees, or “leadership PACs.” The problem isn’t going away, with substantial sums being raised months ahead of State House primaries. From January to March of this year, 11 legislators who ran or are currently running as Clean Election candidates raised a combined $21,860 from lobbyists, corporations and individual supporters, according to disclosures filed April 20 with the state ethics commission. For a sense of scale, each Clean Election House candidate will run their general election campaign on a state payment of $3,937, a state Senate candidate, $18,124. Read More »

Senate President Proposes Presidential Primary | MPBN

Mar 212012

Maine’s Republican presidential caucuses were laced with controversy this year after candidates and voters charged that the entire process had been rigged to favor former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Many of the complaints stemmed from a decision by the state party’s hierarchy to exclude Washington County Republicans after a storm delayed a scheduled vote. Now a state senator from Washington County is advancing a bill that would give state party committees the option of holding a presidential primary instead of a caucus. Last month, Senate President Kevin Raye, a Republican from the Washington County town of Perry, was flabbergasted to learn state GOP party officials had declared Mitt Romney as the winner of a preferential poll without even considering the caucus votes of Washington County Republicans. Read More »

Snowe Storm Implications: The Art Of The Possible | Pine Tree Politics

Mar 012012

I’ve been on the phone for the last six hours. My phone is dead, and so I write. The news is still shocking, and that shock hasn’t worn off. I’m not alone, though – I received a call this evening from a staffer who was in the room when Governor LePage learned of Snowe’s decision. “Oh… shit” the governor said, flabbergasted, before shaking it off and returning to his work. [pardon my French] Dozens of people from both parties have been waiting to run for Olympia Snowe‘s seat for years, and operatives will be on the phone much later than I this evening, talking about who will be doing what in the next 48 hours. And that’s the important part: decisions are going to need to be made by everyone in the next couple of days at the latest. Expect some decisions made by tomorrow. Why? The deadline to get on the primary ballot for Republican and Democratic candidates is March 15. Any interested candidate will need to get 2,000 certified signatures by that date (which means well above 2,000 total if you figure in the names that will be thrown out), or they won’t be on the ballot. Read More »

Recount keeps Romney on top, but new results likely to fan flames | NEWS0605

Feb 202012

According to a recount by the state Republican party, Mitt Romney has increased his lead over Ron Paul to 239 votes in the Maine Republican caucuses. But the new results likely won’t quell the outrage or suspicion that has engulfed the Maine GOP since Saturday because so many questions still remain. On Saturday, Mitt Romney was declared the winner, beating Ron Paul by 194 votes out of 5,585 cast, according to the state GOP. But the numbers did not include the vote totals from several communities, including Waterville and much of Waldo County, because of computer or clerical errors, Maine GOP chairman Charlie Webster said. Read More »

Ron Paul scores big wins in Hancock and Washington County but statewide count doesn’t top Romney | Bangor Daily News

Feb 202012

Texas Congressman Ron Paul was the top choice by a two-to-one margin in three presidential nominee preference polls conducted by registered Republican voters in Maine on Saturday as the state winds up its controversial GOP caucuses. In Washington County’s supercaucus Paul attracted 163 votes to Mitt Romney’s 80, and in the town of Hancock in the county of the same name Paul received 41 votes to Romney’s 16. Paul also picked up four more votes in Clinton, which also caucused Saturday morning. Romney received two votes there. The numbers weren’t enough to overcome Paul’s 239-vote deficit statewide, but the poll is nonbinding, meaning that delegates won’t necessarily be apportioned based on the results, and the decisive wins might cool the momentum Romney claimed after he was declared the winner in Maine a week ago. Read More »

Recount gives even bigger margin to Romney | The Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME

Feb 182012

Republican Mitt Romney gained ground over rival Ron Paul in a Friday recount of Maine’s GOP presidential caucuses so far, but state party officials still couldn’t guarantee it was an accurate tally. The state party found about 200 extra votes in the recount, and Romney’s lead increased from 194 votes out of 5,585 cast to Friday’s updated figures of Romney having a 239-vote lead out of 5,814 votes cast. Saturday’s “official” vote had been challenged because it didn’t include Washington County’s caucuses, which were postponed to today because of a snowstorm. Other communities said they were left out of the count because of clerical or computer errors. But a town-by-town tally of the recount still lists some towns as having zero votes. Read More »

GOP recounting caucus votes | Politico.com

Feb 182012

The Maine Republican Party, under fire from Ron Paul supporters for its mishandling of the state’s recent caucuses, is now re-canvassing counties and municipalities to recount vote totals. POLITICO obtained an email from the State Republican Party asking local chairmen to send them the vote totals from their local straw polls. “County Chairman & Town Chairman,” an email written by a state Republican Party staffer reads. “We are reconfirming the totals from the Presidential Preference Straw poll. Can you please EMAIL ME the totals from your towns. For County Chairman if you are emailing the total for your entire county can you please list the towns that are included.” The letter was forwarded by a longtime Republican activist in Maine. Read More »

State Republican Party: Caucus results went to email spam | Politico.com

Feb 182012

Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted that the state party made numerous clerical errors in counting the state’s caucus results — even omitting some votes because emails reporting tallies “went to spam” in an email account. However, Webster insisted that the errors did not change the outcome. On Saturday, he had declared former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney the winner of Maine’s Presidential Preference Poll by fewer than 200 votes, even though not all municipalities had reported results. “There were clerical errors that did not significantly change the numbers. There were several smaller towns that were left out, the reporting was wrong. … We’ve corrected those clerical errors and will send those numbers out [soon],” said Webster in an interview with POLITICO. Read More »

Republicans to recount caucus votes after protests from Paul supporters | The Hill

Feb 172012

The Maine Republican Party is asking county and town chairman to resubmit vote totals from last week’s presidential caucuses after reports of missing and incorrect vote totals have thrown Mitt Romney’s narrow win over Ron Paul into question. A significant revision in the vote totals could be the second high-profile embarrassment for a state Republican party in the still-young campaign, after Iowa Republicans announced more than two weeks after their first-in-the-nation caucus that, in fact, Rick Santorum had defeated Mitt Romney. Romney had edged Santorum by eight votes in results released by the party on election night. “We are confirming the totals from the presidential preference straw poll,” an e-mail from the Maine GOP sent Thursday said, according to the Portland Press Herald. “Can you please email me the totals from your towns?” Read More »

State GOP adds missing caucus votes, but won’t release updated vote count | The Daily Caller

Feb 172012

The Maine Republican Party has added additional votes accidentally omitted from Saturday’s caucus results, state party chairman Charlie Webster told The Daily Caller Wednesday. But those votes won’t be publicly released. “We don’t want any more drama,” Webster told TheDC. “I’ve already got death threats and 1,800 emails.” Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was declared the victor in Maine over the weekend, claiming a slim 194-vote lead over Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Read More »

Pressure mounting for GOP caucus reconsideration | Bangor Daily News

Feb 162012

Pressure is mounting on the Maine Republican Party to reconsider its weekend declaration that Mitt Romney won the state’s caucuses, at least until all votes have been counted. The Maine GOP announced Saturday that Romney narrowly edged Ron Paul, 39 percent to 36 percent, in a non-binding presidential preference poll taken during the caucuses. The margin was fewer than 200 votes. A number of communities were not included in that poll because they had not held their caucuses by the deadline spelled out by the state party. Read More »

Ron Paul isn't going to ask for Maine recount | USAToday

Feb 162012

Ron Paul’s national campaign chairman says the GOP presidential candidate isn’t going to press for a recount in the Maine caucuses. Jesse Benton e-mailed to say that a recount is “irrelevant” because the Paul campaign believes the Texas congressman will end up with a “strong majority” of Maine’s 24 delegates when the dust settles over the caucus votes. The Bangor Daily News reported Tuesday that the pressure is on for the state Republican Party to “reconsider” its declaration that Mitt Romney won the GOP caucuses when votes were announced Feb. 11. Read More »

Some in GOP want recount in Maine caucuses | The Portland Press Herald

Feb 152012

Republicans are pressuring their party’s leaders for a recount of Mitt Romney’s narrow victory over Ron Paul in Maine’s closely watched Republican caucuses. And some say it may be time to get rid of Maine’s quirky process for selecting presidential candidates and switch to conventional primary elections – with voting booths and counting machines. ”If we are to do a primary, we need to bring that up before the Legislature,” said Kim Pettengill, a Republican State Committee member representing Kennebec County. “I, for one, am going to see if we can do that, (and) I’ve talked to other people who feel the same way.” Read More »

Could Ron Paul Still Win Maine? | NYTimes.com

Feb 142012

Ron Paul’s campaign is claiming that it could still win the presidential preference poll in the Maine caucus because of a county that postponed its vote and will hold its caucus next Saturday, Feb. 18. On Saturday, the Maine Republican Party declared Mitt Romney the winner of the presidential preference vote, which he led by 194 ballots based on the caucuses that have been held so far. State Republicans said they considered the results of the straw poll final. However, Washington County, in the easternmost part of the state, postponed its caucus after a snowstorm was forecast there. The Washington County G.O.P. Chair, Chris Gardner, said his county would conduct the straw poll at its caucuses and will report the results to the state. All if this will be moot unless Mr. Paul is able to make up 194 votes in the county. Read More »

Paul backers, campaign cry foul over GOP caucus tally | The Kennebec Journal

Feb 132012

The campaign of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul and his supporters say the libertarian-leaning Texan was robbed of victory Saturday night when Mitt Romney was declared the winner of the Maine Republican Party’s presidential caucuses. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul tosses balloons to supporters Saturday night at the Seasons Event and Conference Center in Portland. His supporters and the Paul campaign say the cancellation of a local caucus meeting in Washington County robbed Paul of a victory over Mitt Romney. The Paul campaign says a local caucus meeting in Washington County that was canceled Saturday afternoon because of a snowstorm would have provided the margin of victory over Romney. But Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster is standing behind the results showing that Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, won the nonbinding presidential straw poll by 194 votes. Read More »

Caucuses begin in Maine, results kept under wraps | Bangor Daily News

Feb 062012

A group of Unity Republicans cast their votes Sunday afternoon at the Unity Union Church meeting hall in a straw poll that capped one of the very first caucuses to be held in Maine. But the winner of the poll will remain secret for two more weeks, organizers said, as Republican party members in Maine work to make the state’s scattered caucus system more relevant nationally. The caucus information will be compiled by state party officials, who will release statewide presidential straw poll results on Feb. 11 at a big party meeting at the Portland Regency, according to Susan Russell, the longtime chairperson of the Unity Republicans. Read More »

Lawmakers reject voter ID bill but authorize study of election system | Bangor Daily News

Feb 042012

Members of the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee voted to direct the Secretary of State to conduct a thorough study of Maine’s election system, a move that ends a controversial carryover bill that sought to require voter identification. Two weeks ago, Secretary Charlie Summers sent an annual report to the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on the state’s Central Voter Registration system in which he called his yearlong review of voter registration data “troubling.” Summers said although most of the problems were related to human errors by municipal officials rather than intentional fraud, those errors contributed to inaccurate and unreliable state voter data. Read More »

Lawmakers poised to gut Maine voter ID bill | Sun Journal

Jan 262012

A bill that threatened to reignite last year’s heated debate over voting rights appears to be heading to the legislative attic, at least for another year. Lawmakers on the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday tabled a voter identification bill and expressed willingness to gut the proposal and replace its language with a resolve directing the Secretary of State Office to propose voter reform legislation next year. The initiative follows a report by Secretary of State Charlie Summers that suggests non-residents have voted in Maine elections. Read More »

Lawmaker introduces bill challenging Citizens United decision | Sun Journal

Jan 262012

A Portland lawmaker has joined the growing list of those challenging the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision by submitting a proposal that would ban unlimited corporate and union campaign contributions to candidates. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jon Hinck, D-Portland, is identical to a Montana law that was recently affirmed by that state’s a highest court. The Montana justices argued that the state’s people and small business owners could be silenced by big-pocketed, in-state, or out-of-state interests. Read More »

Does ranked choice voting have a future in Maine? | Bangor Daily News

Dec 212011

MAYOR-ELECT_MICHAEL_BRENNAN_6858717-600x403

Before the final vote tabulations were made, a Southern California man emailed the Bangor Daily News with a prediction about the Portland mayoral race from afar. Terry Reilly, an outspoken nationwide critic of Portland’s newly implemented ranked choice voting system, predicted the winner would end up with about 8,000 votes from the nearly 20,000 ballots cast in the mayoral race. Less than a majority.

The use of ranked choice voting is under fire in Reilly’s state, specifically in San Francisco, with an opposition group working to put a repeal question before voters as early as next year. There, voter turnout waned and campaigning reportedly turned negative this fall. Opponents say ranked choice voting hasn’t delivered on what its supporters promised when it was installed about seven years ago. Read More »

After Maine vote on same-day registration, focus shifts to voter identification bill | The Republic

Nov 142011

Now that Maine voters have made clear their support for same-day voter registration, the focus shifts to another hot election-related proposal that will come up during the 2012 legislative session: voter ID.

The bill requiring voters to show photo identification in order to cast ballots comes up after voters rejected by a 3-2 margin Tuesday another move to tighten the state’s election laws. That vote repealed a law requiring voters to register at least two days before an election. In doing so, voters reinstated Maine’s long-standing same-day registration policy. Read More »

Portland declares ranked choice voting a success | wcsh6.com

Nov 122011

Portland’s first experiment with ranked choice voting is being called a success, one day after Former State Senator Mike Brennan was declared the winner. Brennan’s win was announced almost exactly 24 hours after the polls closed. But so far, the biggest complaint about this first election using ranked choice voting in Portland has been that vote counting took longer than anyone realized.

In fact, the city clerk’s office was still making sure the ballots were counted correctly early Thursday afternoon. The good news is, though, no one seems to be doubting the accuracy of the system or who the winner is. Read More »

Mainers vote to continue Election Day registration | Bangor Daily News

Nov 112011

early-results-indicate-election-day-voter-registration-restored

By a relatively wide margin, Mainers on Tuesday overturned a recently passed law that would have ended a 38-year-old practice of allowing voters to register on Election Day. Question 1 asked: “Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Public Laws of 2011 that requires new voters to register to vote at least two business days prior to an election?”

With more than three-quarters of the state’s precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, the yes side was leading 60 percent to 40 percent and had declared victory. The yes side was prevailing in every county, with especially lopsided results in Portland and Bangor. Dozens of Yes on 1 volunteers gathered at Bayside Bowl in Portland and watched the results trickle in on laptops. The mood was festive, even shortly after the polls closed, and only got better as the night went on. Read More »

Portland Still Counting Ballots in Mayoral Race | mpbn.net

Nov 112011

On Election Night, Maine’s largest city popularly elected a mayor for the first time in eight decades. But who that person is won’t be publicly-known until later tonight, a day after the polls closed. Josie Huang has more. The city used a time-intensive electoral process called ranked-choice voting that’s has never been tried in Maine until now. Also known as instant run-off, it’s used in the U.S. by a dozen or so cities, such as San Francisco and Minneapolis.

Ranked choice voting is supposed to produce a winner that most voters can get behind, even if the candidate wasn’t their top choice. It works like this: Voters rank their favorite candidates, and the winner is whoever gets at least 50 percent of first-place votes. That was extremely unlikely to happen in Portland, where a staggering 15 candidates vied to be mayor. Read More »

Voting Rights Restored in Maine, Restricted in Mississippi | The Nation

Nov 102011

Last night marked the first time that voters themselves could weigh in on the GOP’s war on voting. The results were mixed, as Maine voted to reinstate Election Day voter registration while Mississippi voted to mandate government-issued IDs in order to cast a ballot.

First, Maine. By an overwhelming twenty point margin, Mainers overruled the GOP governor and legislature and voted to restore Election Day registration, which had been on the books since 1973 before Republicans scrapped it this year. The Protect Maine Votes coalition gathered 70,000 signatures in less than a month, according to the Bangor Daily News, in order to place the issue on the ballot. Sixty-thousand Mainers registered on Election Day in 2008, and the convenience of same day registration helped explain why Maine consistently had one of the highest voter turnouts in the nation. Read More »

Voters restore Election Day registration | seattlepi.com

Nov 092011

A law requiring voters to enroll at least two days before an election was repealed Tuesday, restoring a four-decade policy of allowing registrations up to and including Election Day. Unofficial results showed the proposal to repeal the newly enacted requirement passed with 60 percent of the vote.

“This is a big day for the voters of Maine,” said David Farmer, spokesman for the Yes on One campaign. “They stood up for their rights to be heard. This tells us that Maine people won’t stand for people messing with their elections.”

The referendum was put on the ballot through a people’s veto initiative after the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a law in June requiring voters to register at least two business days before an election is held. That set aside a state law passed in 1973 that allows Election Day, or same-day, registrations. Read More »

Who can vote? Maine and Mississippi consider opposite directions | CSMonitor.com

Nov 092011

Two states on Tuesday will consider how to balance voter rights against voter fraud in ballot initiatives that could provide momentum for other states to take up the issue in 2012 and beyond. The split, which generally follows partisan lines, is also playing out in the Maine and Mississippi ballot votes.

Democrats allege that Republicans are setting stricter voting regulations in order to make it harder for traditionally Democratic constituencies – such as the poor and immigrants – to vote. In line with this, Maine is considering allowing voters to register on the same day as an election – something GOP legislators in Maine had banned.

Meanwhile, Republicans suggest that Democrats benefit disproportionately from voter fraud and that states must take more steps to ensure that voters are who they say they are. Accordingly, Mississippi is considering whether to require photo ID at the polling locations. Read More »

History of ‘same-day’ voter registration in Maine | Bangor Daily News

Nov 082011

Maine’s Election Day voter registration law was born quietly with bipartisan support nearly four decades ago, with little debate and overshadowed by much bigger issues of the Watergate era. That’s in contrast to that law’s demise in June, which was marked by shrill partisan debate that set the stage for next Tuesday’s referendum to restore what’s become known as “same-day” registration.

The 1973 session, which turned out to be one of the longest at that time, featured high-profile issues such as the Equal Rights Amendment, property tax relief, abortion rights, reporters’ right to protect sources and even health insurance reform. Same-day registration surfaced silently in the background as part of a routine revamping of the state’s election laws. Debate on the House floor was dry and tame with no hint of partisan differences in the Republican-controlled Legislature, the legislative record shows. The focus was on arcane technicalities rather than the merits of the policy. Read More »

House supports banning same-day voter registration, requiring IDs at polls | Bangor Daily News

Nov 082011

maine-house-gives-first-approval-to-voting-changes

The House of Representatives on Monday gave preliminary approval to a pair of bills that will change how and when Mainers vote. The House voted 74-70 along party lines to approve LD 1376, a bill backed by Republican leadership and Secretary of State Charlie Summers that eliminates Maine’s 38-year-old, same-day voting registration and bans absentee voting two business days before Election Day. The House also voted 75-69 to give preliminary approval to LD 199, a bill requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls.

Proponents of LD 1376 say the legislation is designed to ease the workload of town clerks overwhelmed by an increasing number of voters who cast absentee ballots and who wait until the election to register. But critics counter that the absentee voting issue should be handled separately and without eliminating same-day registration, which they say will affect students, the elderly and the disabled. Read More »

Bring Same-Day Registration Back? Maine Votes | NPR

Nov 072011

For nearly 40 years, voters in Maine have been able to walk into a polling place or town hall on Election Day and register to vote. But the Republican-controlled legislature this year decided to remove the option, citing the stress on municipal clerks and concerns about the potential for voter fraud.

Angry Democrats responded by launching a people’s veto campaign, and come Election Day this Tuesday, voters will consider whether to restore same-day registration. When Richard Vargas retired from the Marine Corps and returned home to coastal Maine 16 years ago, he was surprised to run into problems at the local polls, not once, but twice. Read More »

Push on for same-day voter registration | The MetroWest Daily News

Nov 052011

A local legislator is working with other lawmakers and good government groups to have Massachusetts join eight other states in allowing eligible voters to register on election day. Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton, and representatives of MassVote, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters testified in support of election day registration at a hearing of the Joint Committee on Election Laws yesterday.

“It’s estimated that it would increase voter participation by 5 percent,” said Sara Brady, policy director of MassVote. “It means a lot to those people. In 2008 (for the presidential election), more than 10,000 people (in Massachusetts) missed the voter-registration deadline, and those are people who wanted to vote.” Read More »

Voter fraud rare in Maine, elsewhere with same-day registration | Bangor Daily News

Nov 022011

Should we make voting as easy as possible so that more people will vote? If we make voting easier, will many ineligible people vote? When Maine votes on Nov. 8 on Question 1 — deciding whether to overturn the Legislature’s plan to end voter registration on future election days — it will answer these two questions. In recent decades, Maine has allowed people to register to vote on Election Day, eliminating the need to register separately and in advance. It is one of 10 states that have so-called “same-day” registration, which will still be in effect on Nov. 8.

The theory is that voting is made easier by eliminating the need for advance registration, so more people will vote. Although many factors affect turnout, in the 2010 elections, average turnout in the “same-day” states was 48.3 percent, compared with 40.9 percent in the United States as a whole. Encouraging voting is American public policy. For example, the federal “motor-voter” law allows registration when renewing a driver’s license. Read More »

Same-Day Voter Battle: It All Boils Down to Winning Elections | MPBN

Oct 282011

For nearly 40 years, Maine residents have been allowed to walk into a town office on Election Day, fill out a form and register to vote. But that all came to an end back in June, when the Republican-controlled Legislature changed the rules: Now you have to register at least two business days before Election Day. So why did that happen, and why did it so upset Democrats that they launched a campaign to restore the law, gathering tens of thousands of signatures to get the issue onto the Nov. 8 ballot?

We return to the floor of the Maine House in early June of this year, as Republicans make their case to do away with same-day voter registration. Argument number one: Municipal clerks around Maine are overburdened by the extra work of processing last-minute registrations. Read More »

ACLU Asks Justice Department to Investigate Potential Voting Rights Act Violations by Maine's Secretary of State | The Free Press

Oct 222011

This week the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine (ACLU) and the ACLU Voting Rights Project asked the US Department of Justice to commence an investigation into potential Voting Rights Act violations by Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers.

In a five-page letter to Summers they documented their concerns “about your recent actions targeting legally registered student voters in Maine for investigatory action and sending them threatening correspondence likely to deter them from exercising their voting rights. Such actions provide strong evidence that you are violating federal statutory protections against intimidation and coercion of individuals in the exercise of their right to vote, as well as constitutional protections of the right to vote.” Read More »

Fate of Election Day voter registration at stake with Question 1 | Bangor Daily News

Oct 202011

For 38 years, Maine residents have been able to go to their polling place on Election Day, fill out a registration card and then vote. With the passage of a bill during the 125th Legislature’s first session, that option was eliminated and replaced with a requirement that voters register at least two business days before an election.

Shortly after the bill’s passage, a broad coalition of progressive groups gathered enough signatures to initiate a people’s veto. Now Maine voters get to decide whether to affirm the changes or keep in place the decades-long practice of allowing registration and voting on the same day.

Question 1 on the Nov. 8 statewide ballot reads: “Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Public Laws of 2011 that requires new voters to register to vote at least two business days prior to an election?” Read More »

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