BANGOR – As candidates entered their final week of campaigning, representatives from advocacy groups and attorneys urged voters not to be “Floridated” on Election Day.

The League of Women Voters of Maine, Common Cause Maine, the Maine Trial Lawyers Association and the Maine Citizen Leadership Fund said Tuesday that voters have rights and responsibilities they can exercise when they register to vote and cast their ballots.

“We are a coalition of nonpartisan organizations that have come together to make sure voter turnout is high and every vote is counted,” Bangor attorney Sam Lanham said Tuesday. “The last [presidential] election made us all aware of how important every single vote is.

“Our goal is to make sure that no matter what the outcome of the election, each Maine voter will know that his or her vote was counted in town halls, and not in the courts,” Lanham, who represented the trial lawyers, said Tuesday at a press conference at the Bangor Public Library.

Reports of voter intimidation two years ago, including long lines to register to vote at some polling places, prompted a new state law that allows a voter to cast a challenged ballot at the polls. Lanham said Tuesday that a voter who believes he or she is properly registered may cast a challenged ballot, but gives up the right for that ballot to remain secret.

Questions over the registration of voters who cast challenged ballots can be answered after the polls have closed, he said. If the voter was registered in Bangor, for example, but voted at the wrong polling place, the vote cast for presidential and city council candidates and referendum questions would be counted. However, the vote for a state representative might not be counted if the ballot was cast in the wrong house district.

How challenges by observers can be filed with election officials also has changed, according to Rob Brown, who represented the Leadership Fund on Tuesday. Challenges now must be filed in writing with election officials and specifically state how the challenger knows the person is ineligible to vote at that polling place.

Representatives from the groups offered tips on voting that included: checking with local election officials or town clerks to verify registration and polling place; asking for assistance in casting a ballot if it is necessary; following instruction on sample ballots posted in polling places; and requesting a new ballot if a voter makes a mistake.

“In Maine, no one can harass you,” Barbara McDade of the League of Women Voters said Tuesday. “No one can coerce you. No one can campaign for your vote at the polls on Election Day.

“When you vote in Maine, it counts.”