Democrats Continue to Dominate Early-Voting In Maine and Across the Country

In a recent Pennsylvania special election, the race was called with less than half of the votes counted after it was determined the Democrat candidate received 86 percent of the mail-in vote.

[RELATED: Maine’s Bellows Has Not Released Ballot Drop-Box Locations, Over a Week after Maine’s Republican Primary Early Voting Began…]

This result further cemented the dominant advantage Democrats have had in mail-in, early, and absentee voting throughout the country.

In 2022, Republicans were expecting a red wave in the midterm elections, but the wave turned into a mild trickle when Republican voter turnout was far lower than expected.

The disappointment was felt acutely in Maine, where Democrats maintain almost total control of the state.

When the dust settled, data revealed that Democrats dominated Republicans in mail-in ballot turnout. Maine Democrats submitted more than double the number of mail-in ballots sent in by Republicans in 2022.

Maine Democrats also requested 123,960 absentee ballots, compared with only 59,822 ballots requested by Republicans.

According to 2022 data, early-voting accounted for 32 percent of registered Democrats, and only 20 percent of Republicans.

Nationally, data from TargetSmart shows 50.8 percent of mail-in ballots are cast by Democrats, compared with only 40.6 percent sent in by registered Republicans.

If Republicans across the country and in Maine want to catch up with Democrats in mail-in ballots, GOP activists will need to change their strategy, which historically leads to high in-person turnout, but relatively low numbers of mail-in votes.

Although Maine GOP leaders have acknowledged the importance of improving mail-in voter turnout, most were reluctant to respond to Maine Wire inquiries about their strategy.

Oxford GOP Chair Martin, who is currently running for state senate, issued a response to the Maine Wire, along with Jason Savage, Executive Director of the Maine GOP.

Martin acknowledged the importance of early voting for Republicans, but ignored The Maine Wire’s questions about what was being done to encourage the practice.

“It’s imperative that Republicans adapt and vote early. We need to bank as many votes for Republicans as early as possible. You can’t show up at half-time and expect to win the Super Bowl,” said Martin in a comment provided to The Maine Wire.

Savage was also unable to discuss the specifics of the GOP’s plan to improve early voter turnout, saying it’s part of an ongoing strategy, but he assured The Maine Wire that the GOP is working to encourage Republican absentee votes.

“We absolutely 100% recognize the importance of getting people out to vote early,” said Savage “There’ll be some components there that are really going to modernize our approach.”

Savage did reveal one specific way in which mail-in voting has been improved recently.

Previously, the party of each ballot was printed on the envelope of each mail-in ballot.

This was the cause of grave concern, particularly for Republicans, who are often concerned about fraud in the mail-in voting process.

Although the parties were printed on envelopes for administrative purposes, that information could have been easily abused by anyone seeking to illegally dispose of ballots.

After many concerns had been voiced, Maine changed its mail-in ballot process to stop printing the parties on the outside of ballots, marking a win for Republicans hoping to encourage their base to vote early.