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A man enters the lobby area of Merrill Auditorium in Portland to drop off his absentee ballot last October. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
From ballot drop boxes to an online ballot tracking service, temporary measures used to reduce the spread of COVID-19 during the November election would be made permanent under a series of bills backed by Maine’s top election official.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, told the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee Wednesday that the bills aim to make voting easier, safer and more secure.
“Everyone should have the freedom to vote equally, to ensure that our elections truly reflect the will of the people – that’s what these bills are about,” Bellows said.
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Maine’s pandemic voting adaptations could become permanent
Innovations made to guard against the spread of COVID-19, including ballot drop boxes, would become permanent under a set of bills now before the Maine Legislature.
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A man enters the lobby area of Merrill Auditorium in Portland to drop off his absentee ballot last October. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
From ballot drop boxes to an online ballot tracking service, temporary measures that were taken in the November 2020 election to guard against the spread of COVID-19 would be made permanent under a series of bills backed by Maine’s top election official, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
AP file
Voters wait to cast their ballots in the general election outside the East End Elementary School, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Portland, Maine.
As they are in most states, Republican lawmakers in Maine are proposing that voters be required to show photo ID before they enter the polls. Critics of several bills before the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee Wednesday said they aren t necessary, and would only make it more difficult for Mainers to vote.
Currently 47 states are considering new requirements, such as photo ID, for voters. The sponsor of one bill in Maine, Republican Rep. Chris Johansen of Monticello, says that it is designed to stop voter fraud.