Roughly 1,000 people a day trekked over to the Bangor Civic Center during the past week to cast early votes in the state and national election, according to city officials.

All told, nearly 9,000 Bangor residents – or more than 40 percent of the city’s registered voters – are expected to have cast absentee ballots in Tuesday’s election. That is roughly double the number of people who dropped off absentee ballots in person or mailed them in two years ago, said Bangor City Clerk Patti Dubois.

“We’ve done half of the turnout already,” said Dubois, who expects voter participation in Bangor to match or possibly exceed the 89 percent turnout achieved during the 2004 presidential election. “It helps voters on Election Day because it takes some of the strain off of the four voting places.”

Election officials expect similarly high absentee voter participation statewide.

Dubois noted the city will not be accepting in-person absentee ballots at either City Hall or the Civic Center on Monday.

Maine’s two major parties, meanwhile, were in full gear on Saturday knocking on doors, handing out fliers and making telephone calls to likely voters.

“We’ve got volunteers mobilized in all parts of the state to get out the vote,” Jen Webber, spokeswoman for the Maine Republican Party, said Saturday evening. Webber said those efforts will continue Sunday as volunteers attempt to rally support for presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and Sen. Susan Collins as well as other GOP candidates.

Things were likewise bustling at the Democrats’ campaign headquarters in downtown Bangor, where dozens of volunteers were busy touting Sen. Barack Obama and Rep. Tom Allen, who is Collins’ challenger, and other party candidates.

Volunteer Bridgette Chalila said the energy level is high heading into the election, especially with Sen. Barack Obama holding a sizable lead over McCain in Maine polls.

“But everybody is still very focused on getting things done, on contacting people and making sure that everybody who wants to vote is able to vote and that all votes are counted,” Chalila said.

kmiller@bangordailynews.net

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