One person, one vote.

It sounds easy, but behind the scenes it takes a lot of work.

Clerks in Auburn, Farmington, Lewiston, Norway and Rumford say they have been busy all week registering voters and collecting absentee ballots. Most are preparing as they do for every presidential election, hiring a few extra people and getting ready for what they anticipate will be a hectic Nov. 4.

In Auburn, for the first time, voters looking to register on Election Day can do so at their polling places, rather than going to Auburn Hall, which has been the case in the past. Just do not forget to bring your proof of residence and picture identification, Auburn City Clerk Mary Lou Magno said.

Auburn voters can stop by City Hall from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday to register or fill out absentee ballots, as well as during regular hours on Monday.

Leanne Pinkham, the Farmington clerk, said she was doubling her staff to about 20 people to help keep things running smoothly on Election Day.

“I’ve also hired two people for the past two days to sit in the conference room and process the absentee ballots for us,” she said.

Absentee voting is definitely up this year, according to the clerks.

Auburn had received more than 4,000 absentee ballots as of Friday; Farmington, more than 1,000; Lewiston, about 5,300; Norway, around 600; and Rumford, about 1,000, according to estimates.

Those absentee ballots account for about 27 percent of registered Auburn voters; 14 percent of Farmington voters; 25 percent of Lewiston voters; 17 percent of Norway voters and 21 percent of Rumford voters.

Shirley Boyce, Norway’s town clerk, said she was not able to give an exact count of absentee ballots because she “hasn’t really even had more than five minutes” to check.

“We’ve been really busy,” she said. “People are just coming in to vote and it just takes time. You have to keep track of the ballots and run reports. … There is a little more work to early voting than on Election Day.”

Other clerks agreed that administering absentee ballots is time-consuming, but all said the benefit of getting more people to vote was worth it.

“It’s great people are voting; that’s the positive side of it,” said Pinkham of Farmington. “I guess the negative side of it is, it is a lot of work.”

Magno of Auburn said it was all about voter turnout and “how to enhance that.”

Increasing voter turnout is also the goal of Democratic and Republican party officials, who are launching massive get-out-the-vote efforts leading up to and on Election Day.

“We are reaching out to people that we’ve identified will vote favorably for us and we’re going to make sure they make it to the polls,” said Mark Ellis, chairman of the Maine Republican Party.

Ellis said the Maine GOP would have hundreds of volunteers, more than ever, helping to turn out voters. He also said the party would have lawyers at the state’s biggest cities to look out for voters.

“We’re not going into this anticipating any problems, we just need to have a presence there in case there are,” Ellis said.

Rebecca Pollard, spokeswoman for the Maine Democratic Party, said her group would use the same tactics to get out the vote and monitor polling centers on behalf of voters.

“We have some attorneys who will be in about 30 different towns and they’re going to be looking out for any attempts at voter suppression,” Pollard said. “We don’t expect any problems.”

The Maine Civil Liberties Union also will provide legal help to Mainers who face challenges on Election Day.