Absentee ballots a popular choice for Bangor voters Convenience cited in growing trend

BANGOR – Take away the long lines, parking headaches and the inevitable exit polls, and voters are breathing a little easier this election year in the Queen City, thanks to a large number of absentee ballot requests.

The Bangor city clerk’s office has received 2,495 absentee solicitations as of Monday, nearly 400 more than the total number for the 2000 election – and with nine days still left before Nov. 2, according to City Clerk Patti Dubois.

“I think there are a lot of reasons for absentee voting,” Dubois said Monday. “Different reasons are piquing a lot of different issues, and people want to make sure their vote matters.”

Why voters are choosing to bypass Election Day hassles is speculative, but the biggest reason seems to be convenience. Since laws for absentee voting changed, voters no longer need a reason to request an absentee ballot – meaning they can vote when they want to.

“The laws changed several years ago, but the voters haven’t caught up to the changes [until now],” Dubois said.

Maine is one of 20 states that does not require voters to provide an excuse for voting by absentee. Residents are starting to take advantage of this.

“Anecdotally, we hear that towns are getting more ballots, but the towns keep all the numbers, so I can’t give a statewide perspective,” Julie Flynn, Maine’s deputy secretary of state, said Monday.

Bangor has seen a jump, and surrounding towns are showing increases in absentee voters as well. Brewer City Clerk Archie Verow said his office already has taken 535 absentee requests, compared to about 400 for the 2000 election.

“In my opinion, it doesn’t mean there is going to be a bigger turnout,” Verow said. “In a way, we’ve kind of discouraged people from going to the polls because it’s easy now to vote another way.”

Verow said long lines, parking and hawkish petitioners and pollsters outside voter booths are the biggest gripes among absentee voters.

Brent Slater, a Bangor lawyer who already cast his vote, had a simpler answer for choosing to vote absentee.

“It’s just easier,” he said “I got to sit down at my kitchen table and take all the time I needed.”

Flynn said convenience certainly is an issue, but the rise in absentee balloting also may come from pressure among state Republican and Democrat leaders.

“Certainly the political parties and advocacy groups have been pushing for absentee balloting,” she said.

Representatives for both the Maine Democrats and Maine Republicans said Monday that their parties are actively pursuing absentee voters.

Amy Fried, a political science professor at the University of Maine, said the strategy comes as no surprise.

“It’s an arms race, when one side starts working hard to get absentee ballots, the other side finds it extremely advantageous to do the same thing,” she said.

Another factor in absentee balloting is the number of men and women in the armed services, who, Flynn said, have been pushing to get their votes in from out of state and overseas.

“We know the uniformed services branches request their members to turn in their votes,” Flynn said. “Especially from those that may not have gotten a chance to vote in the last election.”