AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine’s Election Day turnout was on the high end of the official prediction of 45 percent to 55 percent as compelling issues and races lured voters to the polls and more people took advantage of a less-restrictive absentee voting system.

Based on incomplete and unofficial tallies, about 54 percent of Maine’s voting-age population cast ballots Tuesday, a figure that could inch upward when complete returns come in.

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap predicted a turnout of 45 percent to 55 percent before the election, based on past off-year voting figures. On Wednesday he said the combination of a governor’s race and a referendum dealing with property taxes likely spurred strong voter participation.

The unsuccessful Taxpayer Bill of Rights initiative alone prompted organized groups of opponents such as teachers and firefighters to vote as a bloc, Dunlap observed. Voters were also motivated by strong feelings on national issues such as the Iraq war, he said.

The high voter interest came as more Mainers were voting by absentee ballot, an alternative that was enthusiastically encouraged by some towns and cities. In Scarborough alone, roughly 4,000 people voted by absentee; in Lewiston, the figure was 2,100. In Portland, absentee voters stood in line to cast ballots the day before the election.

Only about 1 percent of Maine’s electorate voted by absentee before the state eased its rules to allow such voting for any reason as of the 2000 election. That figure has since risen to 20 percent, said Dunlap.

who believes the increasing use of absentee voting will eventually change the nature of political campaigns.

Maine is a paper-ballot state, with communities comprising 65 percent to 70 percent of the population using ballots which are read by optical scanners. The remaining towns use ballots that are counted by hand.

“A heavy turnout in towns that use paper ballots will slow things down,” Dunlap said. While a few isolated glitches were reported around the state, such as a scanner breakdown in Waterville, tabulations overall were “not much out of the ordinary,” Dunlap said.

State election officials declined to issue a turnout figure based on unofficial returns. But with 98 percent of the precincts reporting, nearly 539,000 people had voted. The state’s latest estimate of voting age Mainers, a little over 1 million, dates back to the 2004 election.

Tuesday’s preliminary turnout of around 54 percent compares to 52 percent in 2002, the last gubernatorial election year, and 45 percent in 1998.

AP-ES-11-08-06 1854EST