AUGUSTA, Maine — Voter turnout was looking low across Maine during the Super Tuesday presidential primaries that are likely to cement a November matchup between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The Democratic president and his Republican predecessor are broadly unpopular but had firm holds on their parties going into Tuesday, the biggest day on the nominating calendar with 15 states voting. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is still campaigning hard against Trump and rallied in Portland on Sunday, though she has no apparent path to the nomination.
Only 36,000 Mainers had requested absentee ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election, a figure that could reflect the increasing competitiveness of the primaries. There were nearly 59,000 absentee voters during the 2020 primaries in which Biden bested a large field in a surprise Maine victory and Trump was unopposed as the Republican incumbent.
In-person turnout was looking predictably low across the state as well. Emily Cook, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said it was “very slow” at polling places that she visited on Tuesday morning. In Bangor, only 621 people had cast ballots at the Cross Insurance Center, on top of the 720 absentee ballot requests in the city.
There were no major issues at the polls, aside from voters who were surprised to learn that they were enrolled in third parties and could not cast ballots in either the Republican or Democratic primaries, Cook said. This is the first year that the primaries are “semi-open” to unenrolled voters under a 2021 law passed by the Democratic-led Maine Legislature.
“This is a dress rehearsal for the big election in November,” Cathy Lemin, Bangor’s election warden, said. “That’s going to be huge.”
Trump started off the 2024 race contending with a large field of Republican foes, but he gradually locked down his party despite facing four criminal cases, including federal charges that he sought to overturn his 2020 defeat and mishandled classified documents. Haley is the only challenger left, even though three other Republicans are on the Maine ballot.
No serious primary challenge to Biden ever developed. He is on Tuesday’s ballot alongside U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota. Write-in candidate Stephen Lyons of Maryland is the only candidate in either presidential primary who is eligible for write-in votes.
Maine is deciding a smattering of local races on Tuesday, including a special election for a state House of Representatives district in South Portland. Democrat Matthew Beck is facing independents Tristram Howard and Brendan Williams for the seat last held by the late Rep. Lois Reckitt, a Democrat who died in October.
In Bangor on Tuesday, Democrat Zachariah Dewey, a 33-year-old youth development group manager, said he voted for Biden because he “didn’t know who the other guy was.” His top issues of focus are climate change and voting rights.
“I wish there was one more option of note, but Biden has the best chance of winning,” Dewey said.