News Articles

It’s time to celebrate. We just had one of our most successful legislative sessions. Almost all of our priority bills have been signed into law or are sitting on the Governor’s desk waiting to be signed. Thank you to our League artillery who contacted their legislators or who volunteered on our Advocacy Committee. 

Happy early July 4th! We'll celebrate our legislators standing up for their constituents, voting for democracy reform, expanding voting rights, and to put it simply, choosing to do what's right.

Welcome to Summer in Maine — the longest days of the year! Of course, that’s nothing compared to the long days the Legislature pulled last week trying to get through their work load in time to recess, which they did on Thursday. 

The Maine House and Senate advanced all four of Maine’s democracy reform bills this week, moving the election modernization package closer to final passage. Each bill now moves on to procedural votes in the House and Senate before heading to Gov. Janet Mills for her signature.

This Saturday is Juneteenth, the anniversary of when the final slaves received news of their liberation and were emancipated by the Union Army in Texas on June 19, 1865. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, but not all enslaved people immediately found freedom.

The Maine House voted in support of two democracy bills Tuesday aimed at modernizing and improving the state’s absentee voting process. The bills now head to the Senate for initial approval.

The League of Women Voters of Maine reported that through 8:00 PM on Election Day, polling across the state has successfully concluded. For the first time, Portland residents used multi-winner ranked-choice voting to rank their preferred candidates for the four at-large Charter Commissioners.

Tuesday, June 8 is Election Day. We've collected voter info for Bar Harbor, Dover-Foxcroft, Durham, Ellsworth, Falmouth, Freeport, Portland, Pownal, and Yarmouth. By visiting Vote411.org, you can see what's on the ballot, find your polling place, and much more! 

On Tuesday, June 8, many towns across Maine will hold their local elections. Just as we did in November 2020, we'll send out observers to watch democracy in action. If you have a few hours available on Election Day, you can be part of our nonpartisan Observer Corps. We'll train you! 

The rest of our priority bills are unchanged from last week. Quite a few other bills got killed during the floor session last Wednesday. The Legislature is planning to reconvene on June 2 and 3, every day the week after, and a few more days the week after that.