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.
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Thomas, Colby colleges planning in-person 2021 commencement ceremonies
Thomas College s commencement is scheduled for May 14-15, while Colby s is planned for May 22-23.
The coronavirus pandemic will not cancel a second straight in-person commencement for Waterville’s two colleges.
Thomas College announced this past week it would hold its 127th commencement weekend at its Waterville campus May 14-15. Thomas is inviting its 2020 and 2021 graduates to the in-person ceremony, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, May 15, at the Alfond Athletic Center’s fieldhouse. The class of 2021 is made up of 163 undergraduate students and 51 graduate students.
“Students and their families are very, very excited that we’ll be able to return to at least some semblance of normal with an in-person element of graduation this year,” Provost Thomas Edwards said. “Faculty, staff, students and their families are all really, really excited for the opportunity to come back
By Jessica Hall
Thomas College, the private business college in Waterville, will host an in-person, traditional graduation in May with Meredith Strang Burgess of Burgess Advertising & Marketing as its commencement speaker.
The graduation ceremony will be held May 15 and graduates from 2020 and 2021 are allowed to participate. Last year’s graduation ceremony was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, the graduates may invite a maximum of two guests to the on-campus ceremony, as well as the honors convocation ceremony being held the night before.
For both ceremonies, each graduate and their guests will be assigned a space to watch the event, safely distanced from other guests. Everyone will be required to follow required safety protocols. Thomas has a total of 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students.