Voting is steady with no reported problems in Maine

Livermore Falls ballot Clark Robin back rolls up the print out of votes at the Livermore Falls Fire Department on Tuesday afternoon. She was impressed by the number of voters that have already turned out in this off year election. Over 300 of the 1,700 registered voters and already cast their ballot by mid afternoon Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

PORTLAND — Voting is steady as Mainers head to the polls to have their say on a 145-mile power line to serve as a conduit for Canadian hydropower and a constitutional amendment to enshrine residents’ right to grow, raise, harvest and produce their own food.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said there were no reported problems as voters headed to polling stations on Tuesday.

The size of the voter turnout remains a question.

More than 120,000 Mainers requested absentee ballots, setting a record for a statewide, referendum-only election. But more than 20,000 of those ballots hadn’t been returned as of Monday afternoon.

Absentee ballots that are postmarked on Election Day but do not arrive before polls close will not be counted. Absentee voters can submit them in person or leave them in a drop box on Tuesday.

Many municipalities are encouraging voters to wear masks because of the pandemic, but voters are not required to wear them.

-The Associated Press

Cornelia Bowe checks in with election clerks Tuesday at the Auburn Senior Community Center. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

STATE BALLOT QUESTIONS

Question 1 – Citizen Initiative
Do you want to ban the construction of high-impact electric transmission lines in the Upper Kennebec Region and to require the Legislature to approve all other such projects anywhere in Maine, both retroactively to 2020, and to require the Legislature, retroactively to 2014, to approve by a two-thirds vote such projects using public land?

Link to legislation

Question 2 – Bond Issue
Do you favor a $100,000,000 bond issue to build or improve roads, bridges, railroads, airports, transit facilities and ports and make other transportation investments, to be used to leverage an estimated $253,000,000 in federal and other funds?

Link to legislation

Question 3 – Constitutional Amendment
Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to declare that all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being?

Link to legislation