Orono voters decided Tuesday to move the town’s annual municipal election from March to November.
Residents cast 689 ballots to approve changes to the town charter, so the municipal election will be held on the first Tuesday in November to coincide with federal and state general elections. There were 270 ballots cast in opposition, according to results provided by Town Clerk Shelly Crosby. Voters cast 1,099 ballots for the article.
The decision is a win for those who have long advocated for Orono to move its election date, which the Orono Town Council debated in recent months. Those who supported the date change saw it as a way to potentially increase overall voter turnout and improve access for University of Maine students.
Those against the election date change have raised questions about increased partisanship and whether local races will get lost in the commotion of larger ones. Some suggested moving the election to June instead of November.
Last year, Orono held its election on March 14. It landed during UMaine’s spring break, when many students left the local campus. Those interested in participating had to cast absentee ballots or stay in town to vote.
The flagship campus in Orono has nearly 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and not all of them are registered voters. But they could sway results if enough of them vote in a municipal election.
Ahead of Tuesday’s election, Councilors Dan Demeritt and Sonja Birthisel urged residents to support the election date change.
“Moving Orono’s municipal election to November makes it more convenient for voters to participate in local decision-making,” they wrote in a joint message separate from other members of the council. “The average turnout rate in Orono’s March election over the last 10 years is just 5.4 percent compared to 32.8 percent turnout in November.”
The March election costs Orono thousands of dollars in printing, postage and wages for poll workers, and moving it to November would save $4,300, officials said.
Moving forward, Orono will hold two annual elections instead of three.