• Official State Website
• Secretary of State Website
• Absentee Voting Rules Webpage

Summary
What are the requirements to register to vote in Maine?

• Be a citizen of the United States
• Have established and maintain a residence in the municipality where the person intends to register to vote
• Be at least 17 years of age (must be 18 years old to vote)

Are there special residency requirements for students, military personnel, incarcerated persons, and citizens living outside the United States?
Students: Students have the right to register in the municipality where they attend school, if they have established residency there. Students must meet the same residency requirements as all other potential voters, but may not be asked to meet any additional requirements.
Students who are not residents of the municipality in which they attend school cannot register in that municipality. Students must determine where they have established residency and register to vote there. If residency is determined to be in another municipality or state, absentee voting is possible and encouraged.
The following items should be kept in mind when determining residency for a college student:

• A person does not gain or lose a residence solely because of the person's presence or absence while a student in any institution of learning. This may not be construed to prevent a student at any institution of learning from qualifying as a voter in the municipality where the student resides while attending that institution [Title 21-A, §112.7]
• When registering students, the registrar must make the determination of residency as he or she would for any potential voter.
• A student may have only one residence at any one time.
• If a student has established residency in another municipality or State for any reason, and if the circumstances have not changed, the other jurisdiction may be the legal residence where the student should be registered to vote.

Military Personnel:
A person does not gain or lose a residence solely because of the person's presence or absence while employed in the Armed Forces of the United States or of this State [Title 21-A, §112.7 and Article II, Section 1 of the Maine Constitution].
A member of the Armed Forces may register or enroll at any time by completing and filing the federal postcard application form or the Maine voter registration form, or by registering in person using a form provided by the registrar.
A spouse of a member of the Armed Forces on active duty may have the same voting residence as that person's spouse.
A member of the Armed Forces shall not be considered as having obtained an established residence, however, by being stationed in any garrison, barrack or military place, in any city, town or plantation [Article II, Section 1 of the Maine Constitution].

Incarcerated persons:
The residence of a person incarcerated in a correctional facility or in a county jail does not include the municipality where a person is incarcerated unless the person had resided in that municipality prior to incarceration.
A person incarcerated in a correctional facility may apply to register to vote in any municipality where that person has previously established a fixed and principal home to which the person intends to return [Title 21-A, §112.14].

Citizens living outside the United States:
A person qualified to register to vote who resides outside the United States and does not maintain a fixed and principal home or other address in Maine may register and enroll using the last residence address immediately before leaving the United States, by filing a federal postcard application or an application designed by the Secretary of State [Title 21-A, §154].

Absentee ballot voting
Any registered voter may cast an absentee ballot instead of voting in person at the polling place.
You do not need to have a specific reason or be unable to vote at the polls on election day to use an absentee ballot. Call your town or city clerk for an application and assistance. Or:
You can print your own absentee ballot application, ready to mail to your local Municipal Clerk (and we'll provide you with the mailing address), by filling out this form and clicking the 'Go' button at the bottom of the page.

Deadlines

• Deadline to register to vote in November 2008 election: November 4, 2008 (Election Day)
• Deadline to register for absentee ballot in November 2008 election: <August 4, 2008>

Voting Equipment
Accessible Voting Solutions
To enhance voting accessibility and satisfy the accessible voting system requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), the State of Maine has selected IVS, LLC of Kentucky to provide an Accessible Voting Solution to enable individuals with disabilities to vote with privacy and independence—a first ever opportunity for many.

After an extensive review process involving a broad range of interested individuals and organizations, the Inspire Vote-By-Phone system was determined to be the best solution to meet the needs of Maine voters. The AVS allows voters to cast their ballots using a telephone and fax combination that will be set up at their local polling place. This system was chosen after a comprehensive evaluation process that included input from representatives of the disability community and municipal clerks. It was determined that the Inspire system will meet the needs of the disability community and do it in the most cost-effective manner, saving the State millions of dollars over the next several years. The purchase will be funded almost entirely by the federal government. The total cost to initially equip 600 voting locations is expected to be approximately $1.5 million.

All voters, regardless of whether they have a disability, are encouraged to try the system and vote with it on Election Day at their local polling place. The Inspire Vote-By-Phone gives voters the unique opportunity to try the system from the comfort of their homes before Election Day. They may practice as often as they like, the only difference is they will not receive a ballot faxed back to them as they would when voting at their polling place.

AVS Preview & Practice | Information on Polling Place Accessibility

Paper ballots are the most used voting source by Maine municipalities.

In the 1980's and 1990's, the Maine municipalities that used older voting technologies (e.g. mechanical lever machines and punch card voting systems) replaced those systems with newer optical scan precinct tabulators. Although only 22% of Maine's voting jurisdictions use optical scan systems, over 65% of the voters in Maine vote using one of these systems. All others vote using paper ballots that are counted by hand.