An effort to allow residents who vote early to place their ballots directly into a ballot box or voting machine rather than seal them in signed envelopes and submit them to a municipal clerk survived an initial vote Monday in the Maine House. The House voted 90-50 in favor of a measure that would ask voters whether they want to amend the state constitution to allow towns and cities to set up early voting. Maine residents who wish to vote early now do so by completing absentee ballots, which are sealed in envelopes that the voter signs and held at a municipal clerk’s office until Election Day, when poll workers place them in ballot boxes or voting machines. While Monday’s majority vote allows the bill to stay alive, the measure will need at least two-thirds support in future House and Senate votes in order to send a ballot question to voters.
The House voted on an amended version of LD 156, which started out as a bill that would require the Legislature to set up a statewide early voting system if voters supported the constitutional amendment. The amended version allows towns and cities that choose to do so to set up early voting.
“Let the people decide if they want to sign the envelope and hand it in and make it more difficult for town clerks, or if they want a secure vote,” said Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland. “It is about alleviating a serious burden at the town office.”
During debate on the House floor, proponents suggested the state should do all it can to make voting easy while opponents worried that the state’s smallest towns with limited office staff would be unable to handle the new early voting process.
“When it comes to voting, we should be doing all we can to expand access,” said Rep. Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, the assistant majority leader. “We are not mandating something. We’re giving them the option to choose.”
Full Article: Effort to change early voting in Maine kept alive by House vote — Politics — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine.