UM voters turn out in record numbers

ORONO – Long lines didn’t deter voters Tuesday at the University of Maine where students turned out in record numbers to cast their ballots.

More than 700 people had voted at UM by 3 p.m., and when the polls closed at 8 p.m. 1,694 votes had been cast, according to town officials.

Orono town clerks said they had made 1,400 ballots for the UM site and ran out. They were able to borrow from other districts, however, to avoid having to photocopy and hand count ballots.

In the 2000 presidential election, there was a total of 700 ballots cast at the campus, according to town officials.

Near the front of the voter registration line, Tommy Keschl jokingly said he’d been waiting “since the Red Sox won the World Series.” In actuality, Keschl said he had been in line more than an hour.

Although there were no contested votes at the campus as there have been in the past, there was some confusion.

Town officials voted earlier this year to move the on-campus polling location from the Doris Twitchell Allen Community Village, located at one end of campus, to the more central Memorial Union.

Although the Memorial Union location appeared to be more convenient for students, most of whom pass through the building at least once a day, it was unclear as to whether the entire building or solely the multi-purpose room was considered the polling place.

That made it difficult for poll officials to determine where to begin the 250-foot line that designates where campaigning is required by law not to cross.

Deputy Secretary of State Doug Dunbar clarified the issue Tuesday evening, saying that the 250-foot line started at any entrance to the Memorial Union building.

“There have been some clarifications about signs and where people can be,” Tom Spitz, Orono town councilor and warden, said Tuesday. “We’ve had a few incidences of people that we had to ask not to do what they’re doing.”

Spitz said he credited the confusion to the fact that there were many young people voting who hadn’t done so before and were unsure of the rules.

University officials had granted the UM College Democrats use of the COE lounge, upstairs from the polling site, as a temporary headquarters during the election. UM College Dems President Steven Butterfield said the organization had received permission to use the room from Orono Registrar of Voters Sue Hart, but they had to cover the windows so that no one could see the signs, streamers and banners that were hanging in the room.

Some voters, however, were concerned that the Dems were too close to the polling place.

There also were concerns about copies of The Maine Campus, the university’s newspaper, being handed out to people waiting to vote.

A lawyer affiliated with the GOP had received a concern from a voter, according to Spitz. UM Public Safety asked Maine Campus employees to remove the papers from the stands, but employees of the paper denied the request.

The Republican lawyer would not give his name and refused to comment.

“Public Safety came and informed us that people were getting upset down at the polls because someone was handing out newspapers and asked us to pull our papers from the stands near the polls,” Maine Campus News Editor Rick Redmond said Tuesday. “We did not pull our newspapers.”

An article on the front page of the Campus was about Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards’ visit to Bangor last weekend.

Zubik said it wasn’t really a police issue and that the confusion appeared to have been remedied.

Several organizations on campus have been actively involved in educating and encouraging students to vote in this year’s election.

“Even though the long lines can be discouraging, they’re actually a great sign that people are getting out to vote,” Sarah Bigney, 20, of Project Student Alliance, said Tuesday. The alliance is a non-partisan group that has been diligent in providing students with voting information.

“I think it’s just excellent to have students engaged in the electoral process,” Angel Loredo, UM associate dean of students, said Tuesday. “We haven’t seen that since I’ve been on campus.”

Loredo, who’s been employed by UM for the last six years, said the dean’s office provided food and music for students waiting in line. His office is in charge of the university’s UMaine UVote program that also has been busy helping students get voting information.

It appeared that the efforts of several on-campus groups and departments worked in getting student voters to the polls.

“I feel like it’s important [to vote] because I feel like it’s my duty as an American citizen,” Mike Smaha, 18, of Portland said. Smaha was at the end of the voter registration line and after waiting for 10 minutes, likely had about an hour left to wait.

“I didn’t expect to be waiting so long, but it’s not going to bother me,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a close election, and every vote counts.”