Absentee voting favors Maine Democrats ahead of Tuesday's primaries
Maine Democrats are strongly outpacing Republicans in absentee voting ahead of Tuesday’s primary, suggesting the latter party will need strong day-of turnout if they hope to prevail in a special election in a purple area.
More than 31,000 Maine voters had requested absentee ballots for the June 14 election as of Thursday afternoon, a few hours before a deadline, according to data from the Maine secretary of state’s office. That could be an indicator of low voter turnout in a year without many high-profile primaries.
Nearly two-thirds of voters who had requested absentee ballots, just more than 20,000 people, were registered Democrats, the data show, while only 7,800 requests were from Republicans. The greater usage from Democratic voters comes even though more people are living in jurisdictions with competitive Republican primaries than Democratic contests.
All voters registered with a major party can vote in party primaries, but the highest profile candidates who are set to be on the ballot this year — including Gov. Janet Mills and her Republican challenger, former Gov. Paul LePage — are running uncontested.
Read more: https://bangordailynews.com/2022/06/10/politics/tuesday-absentee-voting-favoring-democrats-joam40zk0w/