Summertime in Maine is coming to a close. If you can believe it, we're already looking ahead to November and the Referendum Election. If you're the overachiever, you can now apply for your absentee ballot through the Secretary of State's website. Just click here. All ballots must be received by 8:00 PM on Election Day, November 2. Ballot and candidate information will be available on Vote411.org early fall.
NEWS:
A Win for Voting Rights: Last week, the U.S. House passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4)! The bill strengthens the famous Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was significantly weakened by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Shelby County v. Holder. This bill would require states with a history of voting rights violations to preclear any changes to voting that could have a discriminatory impact.
The Census Update + Redistricting: Maine’s Apportionment Commission, charged with proposing maps for redistricting, met again on August 18. With the release of block-level Census data, the work on mapmaking has begun in earnest, though no draft maps have been released to the public. The Commission has a deadline in late September to submit a final proposed map to the Legislature, and we continue to urge the Commission to release draft maps as soon as possible so the public can offer substantial feedback on its proposals. We will be presenting a webinar at 5:30 PM on Wednesday, September 8th that explains the process and how you can get involved.
Volunteers Needed: Fair Elections Portland is getting closer to its goal of establishing Maine's first municipal Clean Elections program and ensuring that local politicians are responsive to their voters, not their donors. Our team has started the process of entering information from paper-based, local campaign finance reports into a usable digital format. With this data, we'll be able to see how much elections cost, which individuals and corporations are funding candidates, and how much money is coming from outside the city or outside the state. Answering these questions will help us tell the story of why Clean Elections matter and help policymakers design the details of the program. This data entry is easy to do from home. All you need is a computer and a few hours to spare over the next month. We'll train you on the rest. Ready to help? Just contact will@mainecleanelections.org.
New Ballot Initiative Alert: Last week, a bipartisan group of Maine lawmakers and citizens filed a citizen’s initiative to put a question on the ballot that seeks to eliminate foreign influence (i.e. money) in our elections. Our partner organization, Maine Citizens for Clean Elections (MCCE), is happy to see the bipartisan energy for reducing big money in politics and lifting up Maine voters. MCCE has supported several bills in the 130th Legislature to ban political contributions from foreign governments and government-controlled corporations and is looking forward to learning more about this effort. We welcome the public discussion.
WHAT THE LEAGUE IS WORKING ON:
Understanding Dawnland Today: The League of Women Voters of Maine presents a series to promote a better understanding of the past and present of the Wabanaki indigenous people. The four-part series kicks off with a screening and discussion of the movie, Dawnland, and will dive into difficult truths about the colonization of Maine to help us become better allies of the Wabanaki tribes. To see the schedule and RSVP, click here.
More Volunteers Needed: As the summer draws to a close, we're looking ahead to voter engagement work this fall, and it's time to get Vote411.org going again. That’s our online voter guide. November is just around the corner, and we can't build the Vote411 database alone. We need dedicated volunteers who are excited to provide nonpartisan, accessible information to voters. That could be you! If you're interested in covering upcoming races in your area — or anywhere in the state — you can schedule a 45-minute workshop on how to use the system. If you're already trained and want to sign up to cover a few towns, just send a Evan at evan.tess@lwvme.org.