Roughly one quarter of all Maine voters have requested absentee ballots ahead of next month’s election.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 258,426 registered voters had requested absentee ballots from their local election clerks, according to the latest figures from the Maine secretary of state’s office. Just shy of 165,000 voters had already returned their ballots as of Tuesday.
Maine has just shy of 1 million active voters, so that means one out of every four has opted to utilize the state’s quote “no excuse” process for casting a ballot early. Voters can either mail in absentee ballots, deposit them in secure drop-boxes in some polling locations or cast them in-person at their town or city hall.
Democrats have consistently voted absentee at higher rates than other voters in Maine, and that remains true this election cycle. More than 45 percent of the requests so far this fall come from Democrats, who represent about 36 percent of the registered voters in Maine. Registered Republicans and unenrolled or independent voters account for about 50 percent, combined, of the absentee ballot requests, with Green Independent, Libertarian and No Labels party members representing the rest.
But efforts to encourage early voting by state GOP officials and the Trump campaign may be having an impact. The number of registered Republicans requesting absentee ballots is slightly higher this fall than during Maine’s hotly contested gubernatorial election two years ago.
Voters have until Halloween to request an absentee ballot, which is the same day that in-person absentee voting ends in municipalities. Completed absentee ballots must be received by the voter’s municipal clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted, so the secretary of state’s office is urging those using the U.S. Postal Service to mail their ballots at least seven days before the election in order to ensure it is delivered on time.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
