Voting Blogs: New effort to tighten Maine election law | The Kennebec Journal

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 That vote repealed a law requiring voters to register at least two days before an election.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.

“Legislators should move very cautiously in erecting any new barriers given this overwhelming vote,” said Shenna Bellows, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Maine. Tuesday’s tally “absolutely indicates that voters resent barriers to our constitutional voting right,” she added.

Maine: Rhetoric heats up in Maine people’s veto move | BostonHerald.com

Supporters of an effort to preserve election day voter registration in Maine insist it’s not a partisan issue, but their effort to let voters decide the issue is drawing sharply opposing views from Democrats and Republicans.

The rhetoric heated up as the coalition to keep same-day registration gave state election officials petitions that could force a November referendum on the issue. More than 68,000 voters’ signatures were turned in Monday, and the campaign said the total could reach about 70,000 before the filing deadline arrived Tuesday afternoon.

The Protect Maine Votes coalition — 18 groups that include organized labor, civil libertarians, consumer and public health advocates, disabled and homeless groups — is seeking to repeal a state law that requires registration at least two business days before an election.

Maine: Coalition to wage people’s veto campaign to revive Election Day voter registration law | Bangor Daily News

Critics of the Legislature’s recent decision to end Election Day voter registration in Maine said Thursday a broad coalition is building to quickly collect the 57,000-plus signatures needed to put the issue in front of voters this November.

“We are organized, we are energized and we will be successful,” said Ben Dudley, executive director of Engage Maine, a coalition of progressive groups.

After heated debate that elevated partisan tensions in Augusta, the Legislature voted largely along party lines earlier this month to repeal Maine’s 38-year-old law allowing voters to register at the polls on Election Day.