Secretary Bellows provides update on Maine election processes
AUGUSTA, MAINE – With October 28 marking one week until the Referendum Election on November 4 and absentee voting continuing statewide through Thursday, the Office of the Secretary of State today provided an update about Maine’s election processes for this stage of the election cycle.
Key dates to know:
- Deadline to register to vote: In-person voter registration is available through the close of the polls on Election Day.
- Deadline to request an absentee ballot or vote in-person absentee: Voters can request an absentee ballot through close of business in the voter’s town on Thursday, October 30, unless special circumstances exist.
Voter registration
To register to vote in Maine, voters must be Maine residents and U.S. citizens. Mainers may preregister to vote beginning at age 16, but only those 18 years old or older on or before November 4, 2025, may vote in the Referendum Election. When registering for the first time, voters must provide proof of residency and identity. Current or former incarceration status does not disqualify any Mainer from registering to vote or casting their ballot. Incarcerated persons at a correctional facility or county jail may register to vote in the Maine municipality where they established residency prior to incarceration.
Mainers who need to register to vote, are unsure if they are already registered, or who need to update their registration, such as with a new address or party enrollment, should contact their municipal clerk’s office. Contact information for municipal clerks and registrars is available at www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/munic.html.
Citizen’s Guide to the Referendum Election
The Citizen’s Guide to the Referendum Election, a non-partisan resource that can help voters make informed decisions at the polls, is available at Secretary of State’s website: https://www.maine.gov/sos. Copies of the guide are also printed and distributed to municipal offices and public libraries throughout the state.
The guide, prepared by the Department of the Secretary of State in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Maine State Treasurer and Office of Fiscal and Program Review, is an unbiased and non-partisan review of the issues that voters will consider at the polls this November. It provides detailed information about each referendum question on the November ballot. Voters can see the legislation behind this year’s ballot issues, as well as analysis of the intent and content of each question. Election law also allows for citizen advocacy statements to be published supporting or opposing questions.
Absentee voting
Maine’s no-excuse absentee voting law means that any Maine voter may choose to vote absentee, whether in person at their town or city hall, or at home. No-excuse absentee voting continues through close of business the Thursday before an election; this year that is October 30. Hours for in-person absentee voting at a town or city hall are set by each municipality. Many offer extended hours, particularly in the last days of no excuse absentee voting, but state law does not require this. Municipal office hours are listed at maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/index.html. After October 30, when certain special circumstances exist (e.g., an unexpected hospitalization) a voter may still vote absentee.
- Requesting an absentee ballot: Absentee ballots, including accessible ballots and ballots for uniformed and overseas voters, may be requested online at maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl. Voters may also contact their town hall to request a ballot or submit a paper application for an absentee ballot, and the request must be received at least three business days before Election Day (by close of business in a voter’s town on October 30, 2025) unless special circumstances exist. Some third-party groups and campaigns send out the paper application to voters, and this is legal. Voters, however, need only submit one application for an absentee ballot; duplicates will be noted but not fulfilled.
- Tracking an absentee ballot: Once a ballot request is submitted, Maine voters can track the process of that request and their ballot at: apps.web.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/ballot_status.pl. Voters who need a replacement ballot should contact their municipal clerk.
- Returning an absentee ballot: In many towns and cities, voters will have the option of returning an absentee ballot to a secured drop box. Absentee ballot drop boxes must be regularly monitored, secured to the ground or building, and the interior only accessible by the town or city clerk and their authorized staff. Ballots must be retrieved by the municipal clerk (or a deputy or assistant clerk) or in teams of two.
- Uniformed and overseas voters: Federal law requires that ballots be sent at least 45 days prior to Election Day to Uniformed service and overseas (UOCAVA) voters. UOCAVA voters include spouses and dependents away from their Maine voting residence by reason of active duty or service of the member, and U.S. citizens currently living outside the U.S. and whose residence before leaving the U.S. was in Maine. The longer period for UOCAVA voters ensures that ballots can be received and returned regardless of where they are currently residing.
- UOCAVA voters may continue to request ballots through 12:00 p.m. (Noon) Eastern Time on the day before Election Day. All ballots must be returned to the state’s Elections Division by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. More information about UOCAVA voting is available at www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/voter-info/uocava.html.
- Absentee ballot data: The Elections Division will post up-to-date absentee voter data at www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/data/index.html on Tuesdays and Fridays starting September 23. Beginning October 27, the data will be posted each weekday afternoon.
- Processing of absentee ballots: Upon receipt of an absentee ballot, a municipal clerk will examine the signature of the voter on the absentee ballot envelope and on any affidavit and witness certification on the envelope and may compare it to the signature on their voter registration file. If the ballot requires curing – the required information is not present or the signatures appear not to match – the clerk shall contact the voter within a day, or on the day before or the day of the election, make a good faith effort to contact the voter. The outcome of the clerk’s inspection of the envelope will be updated and a voter can see if their ballot has been accepted or rejected. If a voter’s ballot is rejected, they would be able to cast a different ballot by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day.
- Ongoing absentee ballot status requests: Voters who will be at least 65 years of age by the next election or who self-identify as having a disability may apply for ongoing absentee voter status. A voter who qualifies will automatically receive an absentee ballot for each statewide election, municipal election, and any other election for which the voter is eligible to vote and need not submit a request for each election. Application forms are available on the Secretary of State’s website.
Voters with disabilities
An accessible ballot is available to request at apps.web.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/ballot_begin.pl. Voters must self-certify that they are blind or otherwise disabled and that their disability prevents or substantially limits them from being able to privately and independently complete a paper absentee ballot. This option is available to ensure that all voters are able to cast their vote while maintaining their right to a secret ballot. For in-person voting, each polling place has an accessible voting system available for use.
Absentee ballot processing
Absentee ballots may be processed up to seven days before Election Day, with notice provided to the Secretary of State and political parties 30 days before Election Day. A list of municipalities which may process ballots early will be available at maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/index.html at least one week prior to the start of early processing. Absentee ballot processing is a public process which may be observed by partisan and nonpartisan observers.
Early processing may happen between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., except when an inspection is requested. At such times, processing may not begin until the inspection period has concluded. Requests for inspection of absentee ballot applications and envelopes must be submitted in writing by 4 p.m. the day before each day of early processing. If such a request is made, the ballot applications and envelopes will be available an hour before early processing is set to begin.
During absentee ballot processing, teams of two work in stages. First, the absentee voter list is marked, then the ballots and envelopes separated, and only when a sufficient quantity of ballots has amassed, are the ballots unfolded and placed into the tabulator or ballot box. Ballots and envelopes are kept secure after each day of early processing. Absentee ballots are not counted until after 8 p.m. on Election Day, just as all other ballots.
Many municipalities will conduct absentee ballot processing on Election Day itself, under the same procedures.
Prohibition on influence and advertising in and around voting places
So that voters can cast their ballots freely, Maine law prohibits influence and advertising in and around voting places both during the absentee voting period and on Election Day.
Certain political activities, including the display or distribution of any advertising material (including signs) intended to influence a voter's decision regarding a candidate or question on the ballot for that election are prohibited during the hours when the clerk's office is open and may be conducting absentee voting. This prohibition covers both the inside of the clerk’s office and all public property within 250 feet of the entrance to the building in which the clerk’s office is located. Additionally, blocking a voter’s access to an absentee ballot drop box at any time is prohibited.
On Election Day, on public property within 250 feet of the entrance to the voting place and within the voting place itself, no one may influence (or attempt to influence) another person’s decision regarding a candidate for an office or a question that is on the ballot for the election that day. Additionally, a person may not display advertising material; operate an advertising medium, including a sound amplification device; or display or distribute campaign literature, posters, palm cards, buttons, badges or stickers containing a candidate's name or otherwise intending to influence the opinion of any voter regarding a candidate for an office or question that is on the ballot for the election that day in that same zone.
These restrictions do not apply to advertising material on vehicles traveling to or from the voting place for the sole purposes of voting and a voter (who is in the voting place for voting) may wear a campaign button that is no bigger than three inches around.
Given the above restrictions, election workers, poll watchers, signature gatherers, and others in attendance at the polls for purposes other than voting may not wear apparel that names candidates or explicitly or implicitly expresses support of or opposition to a candidate or issue on the ballot that year.
Voters are also subject to these restrictions and an election administrator may ask a voter to remove a hat or cover up a t-shirt, for example. Anyone, including a voter, who is asked to remove apparel or other advertising or who is asked to exit a voting place by a Warden must do so, as the Warden is the presiding officer at the voting place.
Photography or filming in/near polling places
Photography and videography are allowed in and near polling places as long as the person recording remains outside the guardrail and isn’t conducing video recording closer than 15 feet from a voter, including when a voter is where a person is collecting signatures. Voted ballots are not public records and voters have the right to a secret ballot; photographs and video of ballots are not allowed. The exception to this is ballot selfies which are allowed.
Media interviews in/near polling places
When conducting interviews inside polling places, or on public property within 250 feet of the entrance to the polling place, journalists should be careful not to ask interviewees questions where the answer may violate restrictions on political activities in those areas. Within those areas, instruction on how to vote (other than to provide assistance to a voter who is unable to read or mark their ballot themselves) and influence regarding who or what to vote for are not allowed. The Warden may have someone removed from the polling place for violating this section.
Vote reporting
Election Night results are reported by the municipalities themselves. Sometimes those are posted on a town’s website or social media page, or emailed to an interested parties list, but sometimes they are simply announced locally and physically posted in the town. Ballots must begin to be counted as soon as polls close on Election Night at 8 p.m., and unofficial results are expected shortly after then and throughout the night. While absentee ballots may be processed ahead of time, they cannot be counted until polls close. There is no separate reporting schedule for ballots voted on Election Day or by absentee.
Municipalities have two business days to report their certified results to the Elections Division. The Department has 20 days from Election Day to transmit the certified results to the Governor. Only after the certified results are submitted to the Governor will official results be posted to the Secretary’s website.
Recounts
Maine statute Title 21-A, §738 lays out a specific plan and process for statewide referendum votes to be recounted. Under §738, in the absence of a tie, a recount for a referendum question is triggered only when a petition signed by 200 or more registered voters is submitted to the Secretary of State within 8 business days after the election. If a recount is requested, the Office of the Secretary of State will announce it, with any recount expected to begin in the week or so following Election Day. Any recount would be conducted in Augusta, open to the public, and would also be livestreamed.
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