LEWISTON — Voters across Maine are casting fewer absentee ballots than they did four years ago, perhaps hinting at a dip in turnout for Tuesday’s election.

Town and city clerks across the region say they are getting lots of early ballots, but the numbers are hundreds fewer than in 2008 in places as varied as Lewiston-Auburn, Norway, Paris, Farmington, Rumford, Portland and Bangor.

“Typically, in a presidential election year when you have an incumbent, you have a little less,” said Kathleen Montejo, Lewiston’s city clerk.

In 2008, Lewiston collected 5,492 absentee ballots, Montejo said. By mid-day Friday, the number collected was 4,904.

Thursday was the deadline for voters across Maine to request absentee ballots. They have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to turn them in to their municipal offices.

“Our numbers are perfectly in line with what we predicted,” Montejo said.

Similar numbers have been tracked across the area and the state.

In Auburn, 3,555 ballots were requested before Thursday’s deadline. In 2008, about 4,400 people cast absentee ballots, Auburn City Clerk Susan Clements-Dallaire said.

In 2008, Maine voters cast 238,940 absentee ballots, The Associated Press reported. Voters for this election requested 188,180 ballots, a 21 percent decline.

The cities of Portland and Bangor also saw declines. In Portland, about 11,450 ballots were requested, down from roughly 12,700 in 2008. In Bangor, there were 7,454 requests this year. In 2008, that number was 8,200.

Both cities have opened up voting with Election Day-style rows of booths for people who wish to vote absentee. Beginning during last year’s hotly contested mayoral race, Lewiston copied the process. This year, it expanded to the City Council chambers and included 13 voting booths.

Other communities have been keeping up with strong, if not unprecedented, demand.

In Rumford, requests for absentee ballots fell from about 800 in 2008 to 700 this year, Town Clerk Beth Bellegarde said.

In Farmington, the requests fell from 1,279 in 2008 to 1,137 this year, Town Clerk Leanne Pinkham said.

One other reason for the declines may be changes in the law governing absentee ballots themselves, said Shirley Boyce, Norway’s town clerk.

For the 2008 election, the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot was the day before Election Day. It gave people the Friday and Monday immediately before the election to ask for ballots, which they don’t have this time due to a change in the law that set the Thursday deadline.

Boyce saw the absentee number fall from 849 in 2008 to 574 this year.

In Paris, the number fell from 841 in 2008 to 606 this year, Town Clerk Elizabeth Knox said.

Though Montejo guessed the dip might be part of having a president running for re-election, Knox said she hoped people were saving up their votes for Tuesday.

“I really expect people are going to come out to vote at the polls,” she said. “I think it will be steady all day.”

dhartill@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link