AUGUSTA, Maine — Fewer than 6,000 Maine Republicans had requested absentee ballots as of Thursday ahead of June 11 primaries that are heavier on their side of the ballot, continuing the party’s trend of lagging Democrats in early voting.
It portends low turnout for an election that will pick the Republican nominees in both of Maine’s congressional districts. The most consequential one is in the swing 2nd District, where the national party sees an opportunity to oust U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat representing an area twice won by former President Donald Trump.
Yet just over 11,700 Democrats had requested absentee ballots compared with just under 5,700 Republicans as of Thursday afternoon, according to data from Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ office. Nearly 3,600 Republicans in the reliably liberal 1st District made requests to just over 2,100 in the 2nd District that will be hotly contested in November.
Democrats have long outpaced Republicans in early voting in Maine and across the country. This effectively allows them to go into Election Day with a lead and easily target potential voters who have not cast ballots in the days before elections. This is why narrowing the gap has been a point of emphasis for Republicans in Maine and across the country.
Yet Trump has attacked early voting as part of his false insistence that he actually won the 2020 election over President Joe Biden, whom he will face again in 2024. But the Maine Republican Party and the two candidates running to unseat Golden freshman state Reps. Austin Theriault of Fort Kent and Mike Soboleski of Phillips, have encouraged early voting in recent weeks.
“Alarm bells” should not be sounding over the gap yet, said Jason Savage, the executive director of the Maine Republican Party. His party will not be running their absentee ballot program until the general election season, and he noted that Republicans fought Democrats closely in early voting during a special legislative election they won last year.
Savage said there is confusion about the June primary in part because there was already a presidential one in March. There are lots of reasons that Republicans tend to vote in person, including embracing the social aspect of voting and desiring to hand a ballot in themselves, he said, but he added that the party should do well in motivating early voters later this year.
“It’s something [that] it’s necessary for us to do to be competitive,” Savage said.
