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home > radio > maine news > news story Maine NewsElection Officials To Prepare For Heavy Voter Turnout Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap and municipal workers from around the state are gathering in Bangor this week to plan for what could be a historically large voter turnout in November. They estimate up to 85 percent of eligible voters in Maine could head to the polls. That prediction is in part based on the rise in absentee ballot voting and the involvement of young people in the campaign. College students are eager to register voters, hold early vote drives, knock on doors and make phone calls on behalf of their candidate of choice. In the last presidential election in 2004, 74 percent of eligible Maine voters turned out at the polls. That was the state's highest turnout ever and the second highest in the nation, behind Oregon. This year, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap says that figure could rise 10 percentage points. "We're preparing for it to go up again, given the intense interest in the caucuses in February and the intensity of the campaign this year and the amount of things on the ballot, not only at the national level but we have three statewide questions on the referendum ballot. We have pretty intense dogfights in the legislative races, and there are a number of municipal issues going around." Dunlap says that in the last presidential election, 22 percent of votes cast in Maine were from absentee ballots. He estimates that number could rise to 25 percent this year. "And part of that's been because of changes that have been made in the last decade or so about the requirements to obtain an absentee ballot. In 1999 they removed the requirement that you swear out an affidavit or state a reason why you couldn't be at the polls on election day. So that if you just decide you want to go ahead and get it over with, you can request an absentee ballot." A new feature to the election system is the online absentee ballot request form, available on the Maine Secretary of State's Web site and on some municipal Web sites. Dunlap says campaigns and town officials are putting in more effort than ever to reach populations that usually vote via absentee ballots, such as residents of assisted living homes and college students. But Dunlap says college students from out-of-state must choose where to register. "What happens for a college student now if you decide on election day that you want to register to vote and vote in Maine's election - you're from Missouri or wherever else - you can do so. You have to provide something with your address on it, where you're living now, typically a school bill or a utility bill suppose you live on a university campus. Your dorm room can be considered your domicile for the purposes of voting." Colby College senior John Campbell is chapter coordinator for the Obama Campus Coalition for Change, a collaboration between the campaign and the state Democratic Party. Campbell says his group is encouraging all students on the Waterville campus to vote in Maine's elections. "We usually encourage people, unless they live in a critical swing state, to vote in Maine because the process only takes a minute and it's really easy. On campus there tends to be a greater interest in the presidential race which I think in some ways is understandable, but there's actually a real growing interest in the Allen-Collins race which many people view as very important." Most of the college voting efforts are organized by students themselves. Alexander Willette, chairman of the Maine College Republicans and a sophomore at UMaine Farmington, says the Get Out The Vote campaign is in full swing, and some events are nonpartisan. "We're doing some voter registration drives and absentee ballot drives to get students to vote. Also each college sort of as a nonpartisan effort, does some sort of either a ride to the polls or here at UMF they draw little feet all the way to the polls so you know where to vote for the first time." Willette says he sees many out-of-state students choosing to vote in their home state elections because they want to have a say in the local races. "Some decide to register to vote here just because it's easier but most would rather vote in their home town because they know the issues better there. I've never seen the college as excited about this. This year the professors are even saying you know they've never seen students so excited about a presidential election on both sides." This weekend, students from the University of Maine Orono are going door-to-door for John McCain in the Bangor area and Obama's Campus Coalition for Change will hold a Student Day of Action in Lewiston on Saturday. The state's absentee ballots will be mailed out next week to voters who request them.
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