A group of Republican lawmakers are looking to end the controversial practice of same-day voter registration in Maine.
Rep. Barbara A. Bagshaw (R-Windham), together with eight Republican co-sponsors, are pushing legislation that would reinstitute time limits on when voters must register to vote in order to participate in a given election.
“I recently had favorable communication with four town clerks from municipalities in Maine who support eliminating Election Day voter registration at the polls,” Rep. Bagshaw told the Maine Wire.”
“They felt that, administratively, it would be a lot easier on them to manage and we discussed a potential compromise,” Bagshaw said.
According to Bagshaw, her bill would strike a balance between encouraging democratic participation in elections and the administrative burden of same-day registrations by setting the registration deadline just one week prior to Election Day.
“The compromise would be ending voter registration on the Thursday before Election Day, which would also coincide with the close of early in-person voting,” she said. “The goal is to make our elections run smoothly.”
As of October 2024, twenty-three states and Washington, DC, have same-day voter registration laws on the books. Of these, twenty states and the nation’s capital allow voters to register on Election Day, while the remaining three allow voters to register and absentee vote on the same day.
In the rest of the country, voters must have their registration finalized by a set deadline in advance of casting their ballots, often between eight and thirty days ahead of an election.
Under Maine’s current laws, unregistered voters can arrive at the polls on Election Day, register to vote, and cast a ballot just like any other voter.
That’s been the law in Maine since 1973, when Maine became one of the first states to adopt same-day registration with the passage of a bill introduced by Republican Sen. Elden Shute of Farmington and signed by Democratic Gov. Ken Curtis.
Nearly a decade and a half ago, state lawmakers made a successful attempt to repeal this policy, but this was quickly reversed by a People’s Veto with about 60 percent support.
At the time, only a few other states allowed for same-day voter registration. Most states that currently allow voters to register and vote on the same day first adopted these policies in the mid-to-late 2010s, with New York and Virginia joining in the 2020s.
Click Here for More Information on Same-Day Registration Nationwide
While supporters of same-day registration have argued that it encourages voter participation, opponents have suggests that it leaves the system open to abuse.
Bagshaw’s bill, LD 349, represents a renewed effort to roll back Maine’s same-day voting policies and would prevent anyone from registering to vote after the last Thursday before the election.
Cosponsoring this legislation are Sen. Dick Bradstreet (R-Kennebec), Rep. Kimberly M. Haggan (R-Hampden), Rep. Kathy Irene Javner (R-Chester), Rep. Laurel D. Libby (R-Auburn), Rep. Sheila A. Lyman (R-Livermore Falls), Rep. Shelley Rudnicki (R-Fairfield), Rep. Tammy L. Schmersal-Burgess (R-Mexico), and Sen. Marianne Moore (R-Washington).
Members of the public will have the opportunity to make their voices heard on this bill in Augusta early next week.
A public hearing for LD 349 has been scheduled for Monday, February 10 at 11am in State House Room 437. Testimony may also be submitted online at www.mainelegislature.org/testimony.
Click Here for More Information on LD 349
I don’t think the Dems will go for it because then they can’t get the illegals and out of state students to vote for them.
I do applaud this finally being given a chance though. It’s got to start somewhere and this will get the issue in the public eye, at least on MW
Democratic Gov. Ken Curtis He is starting point for all our problems.
The democrats will NEVER allow it .
We need to get rid of the democrats .
I wish Cumberland had a rep like Barbara Bagshaw. Instead, Cumberland, the richest town in Maine, has been infiltrated by rich white liberals from other states over the years and is just like the voters in Massachusetts and Vermont. The Dems only want this, like rank choice voting, no voter ID, and mail in ballots, for CHEATING!
Maine GOP sure knows how to pick an important issue, NOT! We are all going to be taxed into oblivion and you pick this as an issue?! Get on every communication avenue daily and talk about the tax increases on prescriptions, ambulances, etc. Talk about how Mills and the communists have bankrupted the state. What good is the Maine GOP? Or are you in cahoots with Mills and the communists? That 61% salary increase did not hurt did it? Maine GOP prove me wrong. Your silence proves my point.
@axylos. If you get rid of same day registration then the Ds will start losing elections and everything else gets fixed. With same day registration, mail-in voting, etc., the Ds keep cheating and the state gets worse. Saw this happen out west.
Could some information be as to is thinking or who is though to be running as a Trump Republican against Pingree in the 1st district of Maine?