This last Friday and Saturday, we held our Biennial Convention. We're so proud of our members for coming together and voting on the future of our organization for the next two years. Our advocacy work will continue, stronger and better than ever. We’ll reach more voters, the ones often overlooked or left behind, through our grassroots efforts. And we voted to make our Youth Council officially permanent. Here's to Generation Z.
NEWS:
Election Information You Need: Towns across Maine will have local, municipal elections over the coming weeks. For many cities, including Portland, Election Day is on Tuesday, June 8. By visiting Vote411.org, you can see what's on the ballot, find your polling place, and much more!
WHAT THE LEAGUE IS WORKING ON:
Democracy isn't trivial, but we can still have a good time! Join us for an evening of trivia questions that will test your knowledge. Gather a few of your favorite people — or find a team on the night and make some new friends. The winning team will leave with prizes, including the coveted Democracy Defender title and a custom Zoom background to go with it. Click here to register.
Wait, where are we? The legislative session scheduled for last week had to be cancelled because of COVID, but the Legislature will try again this week, Wednesday, May 19, with some COVID restrictions being lifted. They may be back at the State House! We’re still following almost 100 bills, 50 of which we testified on. Fewer than half of those (21 bills) have been reported out of committee, and almost all of those got an Ought Not to Pass report, which means they could die without a floor vote as soon as this Wednesday. That still leaves over twenty bills, including all of our high priority bills, that are still being worked and amended in the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. Here's where things stand on our highest priority bills:
- National Popular Vote. LD 1330 and LD 1384: These two National Popular Vote bills had their public hearing on Tuesday, May 11. The bills received good support from League testifiers and other Mainers. However, we anticipate that these bills will be tabled until the next session or killed in Committee. Their work session has not been scheduled.
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Foreign Contributions. LD 479: MCCE and the League support a ban on foreign contributions in Maine politics. LD 479 would have tightened the restrictions on foreign contributions in candidate campaigns and prohibited most of the foreign money flowing into issue campaigns. Unfortunately, it was voted "Ought Not to Pass." Another one bites the dust. LD 194 could still limit foreign nationals and foreign governments from contributing to referendum campaigns. The committee rejected a stronger version of this bill proposed by Senator Luchini, but the version that’s advancing is stronger than the original bill and much better than nothing.
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Consolidating COVID Election Gains. LD 1575: We 100% support this bill. Important provisions from this bill were incorporated into the Secretary of State’s housekeeping bill, LD 1363, including mandatory cure provisions for absentee ballot errors and drop boxes provisions. The amended version of LD 1575 will improve the consistency of voter information and ensure consistent treatment of student IDs when registering to vote. Last Friday's work session concluded with a "Divided Report," meaning members couldn't come to an agreement, but it appears that our bid to protect the status of nonpartisan election observers will not survive this round, nor will our hopes to reinstate no-excuse absentee voting on the Friday before the election. It’s okay. If these bills pass, we will have gotten almost everything we wanted.
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Online voter registration. LD 1126: A strong bill is on its way to a majority "Ought to Pass" report out of committee, though it hasn’t been reported out yet. We are very optimistic about final passage, with implementation set for November 2023.
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Semi-open primaries. LD 231: Still tabled in VLA. There is passionate support for this bill among some committee members, but it's still unclear if there is majority support. We’re on pins and needles about this one.
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Corporate contribution ban. LD 1417: Being amended by the committee. The bill language was in flux right up until it was presented, and some critical elements will need to be corrected by the amendment. We believe the bill has majority support in the VLA committee. We are hopeful that Sen. Luchini’s sponsorship will bring a good bill to the floor.
- Audits and transparency. LD 1155: This is our third attempt to pass an election audits bill, and we are closer now than we have ever been before, thanks to the support of the Secretary of State and the sponsorship of Rep. Grohoski. This bill is being amended by the VLA committee, and it will likely have a hefty fiscal note, so it has a few hurdles yet to clear.
And that’s just the big stuff. There are still a lot of moving parts and a lot of work to do before this special session concludes.