Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has ordered Common Sense for Maine to stop prefilling the party affiliation section on blank voter registration cards being sent to Mainers ahead of the November 4th election.
As originally reported by WGME, the conservative political action committee had been partially filling out voter registration cards by checking off Republican under the party affiliation section.
While the Secretary of State has said that this not allowed in the state, Common Sense for Maine disagrees with her interpretation. Despite this, the PAC will comply with the order, citing the need to continue receiving blank registration cards from the state.
This practice first came to light after a Mainer shared the voter registration card they received from the PAC with the CBS13 I-Team.
In addition to the voter registration card, these mailings also contained a letter outlining several positions of the Republican party and indicating that the voter was being contacted because they had expressed interest in supporting Question 1 on this November’s ballot.
The legislation proposed by this referendum question seeks to establish voter ID requirements for both in-person and absentee voting.
For anyone who does not already have one of the several qualifying forms of identification — including a driver’s license, passport, or military ID — would be eligible to obtain a no-cost non-driver identification card.
This referendum would also make several amendments to the absentee voting process in general.
For example, this bill would end Maine’s ongoing absentee voter program, eliminating the ability to request an absentee ballot over the phone, and change some of the rules surrounding absentee ballot drop boxes.
[RELATED: Breaking Down How Question 1 Would Change Election Law in Maine]
“Enclosed, please find a voter registration card that is intended to enable you to register to vote as a republican in future Maine lections [sic],” the letter reportedly read.
According to Secretary Bellows, checking off a party affiliation in advance on a voter registration card is not allowed in Maine.
“This was the first time ever that we received a complaint that a group had prefilled the card with a political party prior to mailing it out to people,” Bellows said, according to the outlet.
“We welcome all groups to engage in voter registration, that’s part of democracy,” she continued, “but it’s really important to recognize that it’s the voter’s choice to register and affiliate with a party if they so choose, not any group’s decision.”
Last week, after receiving the complaint, the Secretary of State’s Office sent a cease-and-desist letter to Common Sense for Maine, warning that additional blank voter registration cards would be withheld from the group if they did not comply.
Chair of Common Sense for Maine Dov Sacks shared a statement with the I-Team, responding to the Secretary of State’s interpretation of the rules.
“We disagree with the Secretary of State’s legal analysis regarding our voter registration efforts contained in the cease-and-desist letter you reference,” Sacks wrote, according to WGME.
“However, Ms. Bellows in her letter conditioned our receipt of additional voter registration cards from her office on our willingness to modify our approach,” continued Sacks. “Therefore, in the interests of being able to proceed with our time-sensitive voter registration efforts before the upcoming election, we’ve agreed to all of the terms articulated in her letter and now eagerly await receipt of the additional 20,000 voter registration [sic] which we previously requested and which we have agreed to send out in blank form going forward.”
“As you know, her failure to provide these requested voter registration cards in a timely manner would constitute unlawful and unethical election interference, particularly in the context of her running Maine’s elections while running for governor,” Sacks said.
In March of this year, Secretary of State Bellows announced that she would be entering the gubernatorial race in hopes of succeeding Gov. Janet Mills (D), who is not eligible to run for the governorship in the upcoming election cycle.
[RELATED: A Failed 2023 Bill Could Have Forced Bellows to Resign Before Running for Governor]
Information from the Secretary of State’s Office indicates that there are limitations on the number of voter registration cards that may be requested by candidates, political parties, and other groups during an election cycle.
While statewide candidates and qualified political parties are allowed to obtain up to 2,000 voter registration cards per week with a cap of 10,000 per election cycle, this limit is lowered 1,000 per week and 5,000 in total for all other candidates and groups.
WGME explained in their report that officials have said they are still working to determine how many more voter registration cards Common Sense for Maine may be eligible to receive.
[RELATED: How Can Mainers Register to Vote Ahead of the November 4th Election?]
Because Maine has same-day voter registration, anyone who is eligible to vote may register in-person at their local town hall from now until election day.
Registration will be open through the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) until October 28.
Anyone who is unsure of their voter registration status may contact their local municipal clerk’s office to check.
Contact information for all Maine municipal clerks and registrars is available here. A statewide online lookup tool is not currently available.
To register, prospective voters must be United States citizens, residents of Maine, and over the age of 16. That said, only Mainers who will be at least 18 on November 4, 2025 are eligible to participate in the upcoming election.
Current or former incarceration status does not disqualify Mainers from registering to vote or casting their ballot.
Once Mainers are registered to vote, they may either wait until election day to cast their ballots or take advantage of one of the state’s absentee or early voting options.
Early voting, or in-person absentee voting, is available until the close of business on October 30.
Absentee ballots may be requested from now until 5pm on October 30. In order to be counted, absentee ballots must be returned by voters to their local municipal clerk or placed in the appropriate absentee ballot drop box by 8pm on election day, November 4th.
Voters who plan to return their absentee ballots by mail should plan to send in their ballots no later than October 28, seven days prior to the election.
