AUGUSTA Today, Open Primaries Maine announced that dozens of former legislators have endorsed L.D. 231, the semi-open primaries bill sponsored by Sen. Chloe Maxmin, D-Lincoln.
Under current Maine law, the 32% of Maine voters who are unenrolled often referred to as independent are prohibited from participating in taxpayer funded primary elections.
L.D. 231 would allow semi-open primaries, meaning these unenrolled voters would be permitted to cast one ballot in the primary of their choice.
Republicans would not be able to vote in Democratic primaries and Democrats would not be able to vote in Republican primaries.
Maine is one of just 14 states with completely closed primaries, and 80% of Maine voters support semi-open primaries, according to a news release.