Mainers are starting to cast absentee ballots throughout the state, and those overseas and in the military have been casting votes for a couple of weeks.
Mainers can request a ballot from their local municipality and mail it back to be counted on Election Day. Secretary of State Matt Dunlap expects big turnout this year.
“Presidential cycles are always our busiest. So we should see, and actually in overall turnout of our vote, we could see 35 percent by absentee this year,” he says. “The systems are now much, much better than they were just ten years ago. And we are seeing much more participation by our military and neighbors that are overseas and have a right to vote in the state of Maine.”
Dunlap says that translates into about 270,000 Mainers voting absentee this year. Campaigns are pushing those they have identified as supporters to vote now and avoid what could be long lines Election Day.
