The Wabanaki Alliance has joined the coalition against Question 1 on the November ballot, arguing the measure would make it harder for Indigenous people in Maine to vote.
Architects of the citizen’s initiative considered including tribal identification cards on the list of credentials that could be used to vote if the referendum passes, according to lead petitioner Alex Titcomb. But the authors ultimately narrowed the scope to “just the most common” government-issued IDs, he said.
“It feels discriminatory to us, it feels wrong,” said Maulian Bryant, executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy organization working in Maine to advance tribal sovereignty.
Proponents say the measure it would make elections more secure by requiring voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot. It would also limit municipalities from offering more than one drop box for absentee ballots and eliminate the ability to request an absentee ballot by phone, and for family members to request a ballot on behalf of a voter.
Acceptable forms of identification would include a Maine driver’s license, Maine nondriver identification card, Maine interim identification form, a U.S. passport or passport card, a U.S. military identification card, a Maine National Guard identification card or a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs identification card.
The measure would also direct the secretary of state to issue nondriver identification cards at no cost to voters who do not have driver licenses.
“We don’t see it as a burden for folks to obtain a valid ID that’s on the list,” Titcomb said. “Every citizen should be able to do that.”
Voters must present an ID (although not necessarily a photo ID) when registering to vote in Maine, but not when they cast a ballot.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows noted that studies have found that strict voter ID laws can disproportionately impact voters of color and minority groups.
Native Americans can currently use their tribal identification cards — which are issued by the federally recognized tribes and accepted as nondriver IDs for other purposes in Maine — to register to vote.
Question 1 would create an incongruency in the law, Bellows said.
“A tribal member could use tribal ID to register to vote but then could not use that same ID to vote,” she said. “And that defies common sense.”
That’s not an issue for Titcomb, who said the petitioners behind the measure are pushing a voter ID law inclusive of what is “most readily available for all U.S. citizens.”
The Department of the Secretary of State does not track how many Mainers have only tribal IDs, and it is unclear how many voters might be forced to obtain new forms of identification to vote if the measure passes.
Titcomb acknowledged that the Legislature could opt to alter the list if the measures pass, noting that the question’s citizen authors are “not experts” and may not have foreseen “every possible scenario of folks that could be impacted.”
If voters approve the referendum on Nov. 4, Maine would become the 37th state with a voter ID law. It would be one of just a small handful of states that does not accept tribal IDs.
Voters in tribal communities used absentee ballots at a lower rate in the 2024 general election than the rest of the state, according to statistics from Bellows’ office.
On the Passamaquoddy reservations of Motahkomikuk (Indian Township) and Sipayik (Pleasant Point) and the Penobscot Nation, between 6% and 14% of voters used absentee ballots last year, compared with 47% of all voters in the state.
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Still, Bryant says, enough people in Wabanaki communities — especially elders and caregivers — use absentee voting that she wonders, “Why make it harder for even one person to vote?”
Wabanaki people in Maine were not able to vote in state elections until 1967.
“The right to vote is so sacred to us because it was withheld for so long,” Bryant said.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Reuben Schafir can be reached at [email protected]. Schafir is a Report for America corps member who writes about Indigenous communities for the Portland Press Herald.
