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Maine
‘Our democracy in action’: High turnout reported as voters across central Maine flock to polls
Like so many other people, it was the presidential race that brought Randy Wyman to the polls Tuesday.
But the 65-year-old Madison man said he was still undecided as he came in to vote around 11:15 a.m. at the former Old Point Avenue school. Wyman said he was “pretty sure” but had not yet made up his mind.
“I’m going to make my decision when I get in the booth,” he said.
As voters across Maine and the nation cast Election Day ballots Tuesday, uncertainty loomed over the outcome of the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Clerks in towns big and small said they were expecting record-high voter turnout. High rates of absentee voting and same-day voter registrations have driven up vote totals throughout Maine.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, speaking from a Bangor polling station Tuesday night, said more than 1 in 3 registered Maine voters had already voted prior to Election Day and “today we are seeing strong voter turnout everywhere” and “strong same-day voter registration.”
“One gentleman was registering his daughter for the first time and had tears in his eyes at her opportunity to participate in democracy,” Bellows said.
In fact, the volume of ballots was so great in Belgrade that the ballot counter malfunctioned, Town Clerk Mary Vogel said.
“The ballots are filling up on the inside of the machine and causing problems. The ballots are not dropping when they are inserted into the machine,” Vogel said. “In hindsight, maybe we should have another machine, but who knew it would be like this? We didn’t expect it.”
Officials did get help from some Messalonskee High School students who volunteered at the polls.
Since the students are under 18, they can’t handle the ballots, but they are able to direct voters through the polling center at Belgrade’s Center for All Seasons and help them register to vote, all while earning college credit.
DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
In Waterville, Heidi Mitchell walked out of the polling place at Thomas College just after 7 a.m., having been one of the first people to vote.
“I voted for Kamala because I want somebody to work for us, the people of America, not the corporate America,” said Mitchell, 53.
Longtime election warden Roland Hallee said officials were expecting a voter turnout of about 80% of the approximate 10,000 registered Waterville voters, which is more than the typical 70% for a presidential election. He said 3,700 had voted by absentee ballot.
Moriah Davis, 26, and her 1-year-old daughter, Penelope, exit the Waterville polls at Thomas College just after 7 a.m. Tuesday. Amy Calder/ Morning Sentinel
Moriah Davis, 26, was carrying her 1-year-old daughter, Penelope, as she exited the polls.
“I voted for Harris,” she said. “First of all, I love all of her policies. She’s not racist or xenophobic.”
Already by around 8 a.m. in Oakland, 163 out of 5,053 registered voters had cast ballots at the fire station and about 2,000 had voted absentee, according to Town Clerk Jan Porter.
Richard Principato, 58, leaving the polls, said he voted for Trump.
“The biggest thing is the economy, the immigration and our military,” Principato said.
Principato said he also voted for Austin Theriault, the Republican challenging incumbent Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. “Jared Golden, he always voted Democratically all the way,” he said.
A steady stream of voters trekked in and out of the James H. Bean School in Sidney on Tuesday morning, where 185 people had cast ballots by 9:15 a.m.
Haileigh Miller, 19, voting for the first time, at left, stands with her mother, Melissa Moulton, at the James H. Bean School in Sidney after voting Tuesday. Both said they voted for Donald Trump for president. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel
First-time voter Haileigh Miller, 19, received applause as she registered. Later, she said she voted for Donald Trump.
“He aligns with my morals,” Miller said. “He’s the best candidate. Going into my 20s, I’m starting to become an adult. Hopefully, I’ll be able to live on my own. Right now, I can’t afford to.”
Sidney Town Clerk Sara Morey said that as of Monday night, 1,604 voters had returned absentee ballots, out of 3,919 registered voters.
“To put it in perspective, we had less than 400 total voters for the (June) primary,” she said.
As polls opened at 7 a.m. in the town of China, a line of about 50 voters formed to get into the municipal portable building. Town Manager Becky Hapgood, wearing a fluorescent vest, helped direct traffic.
“The amount of work the town clerk and deputy clerks put in, in the course of preparing for an election, is phenomenal,” Hapgood said. “We’re focused on voter integrity. We just want people to come vote.”
In Gardiner, about 80 people were lined up waiting to vote when the polls opened at 8 a.m., including Peggy Williams, who was first in line.
Williams works in Portland and wanted to make sure she voted before heading to work, because she wasn’t sure she’d be back in Gardiner in time. She said voting is an important part of our freedoms. She said she planned to vote for Harris “to protect our country from tyranny.”
Next in line behind her was Kevin May who also came in around 7:30 a.m. to vote before going to work at the shipyard in Kittery. He, too, said he planned to vote for Harris, in part because he has two nieces and he’s concerned about abortion rights if Trump were to win.
Just behind May, third in line, Pete Hersom said he was voting for Trump because, he said, Democrats have damaged the country and the economy.
In Gardiner, several voters brought their children into the polls with them to vote.
Adam Lemire carried 3-month-old Hazel in his arms as he made his way through long lines, while his partner, Rachael Thomas, carried 3-year-old Reid on her shoulders.
“It’s kind of hard to explain to a 3-year-old what voting is, but he asked, so we talked about it,” Lemire said. “He’s getting it. We were driving by the State House and he got excited … That’s where the people go that we vote for.”
The line of voters stretches out of the building just before doors open at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kennebec Valley in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
In Gardiner, 38% of registered voters voted absentee, the most City Clerk Kathy Cutler has seen in the 17 years she’s been working elections in the city.
Turnout was strong Tuesday, as well, with a line of about 80 people queued up to vote by the time the polls opened.
“It’s an honor to do this — this morning swearing people in I had a lump in my throat,” Cutler said. “This is our democracy in action.”
‘UNPRECEDENTED TURNOUT’
Voting was also heavy Tuesday morning in Madison, Town Clerk Cheyenne Stevens said. Her office issued 1,007 absentee ballots, and had received all but 28 back as of Tuesday around noon. Another 500 or so registered voters had cast ballots by that time, including Lori Knowlton.
Knowlton, 61, said she was voting for Trump. She said she did not vote in the 2016 presidential election and voted for President Biden in 2020.
“I don’t love his personality or how he can be condescending and rude sometimes,” Knowlton said of Trump. “But I think about how the country was when he was the president. Our life and our household was all much better. And I also think that, as a country, we are much safer in the world when he’s president.”
At Mill Stream Elementary School in Norridgewock around noon, kids were at recess playing on the playground while voting took place in the auditorium.
Officials had discussed closing the school — the town’s usual polling place — for Election Day but decided against it. Instead, the school resource officer and an additional Somerset County sheriff’s deputy were assigned to the school during the day.
Town Manager Richard LaBelle, who also is the town clerk, said he was aware of reported threats made to other schools in Maine today but was confident in the safety measures in Norridgewock. Turnout has been steady, and most voters have quickly and quietly made their way in and out to vote, LaBelle said.
The biggest challenge of the day so far, LaBelle said, has been confusion around the ranked-choice voting system in the presidential and congressional elections.
“We are spoiling an unusually large number of ballots,” LaBelle said. “I don’t know if people are trying to be strategic, or largely they just don’t understand. But it remains an obstacle.”
Voting was heavy at the Monmouth Recreation Center as well.
“It’s an unprecedented turnout,” said Kent Ackley, an independent running for state representative, as he stood outside the polls.
“I’ve never seen this many people show up to be heard,” he said.
Sarah Jones, Monmouth’s election clerk, holds the registrations of around 70 new voters. Emily Duggan/Kennebec Journal
Sarah Jones, the election clerk for Monmouth, said at least 70 residents registered to vote for the first time by noon.
“This is by far the most (registered voters) that I’ve seen. They all realize it’s important,” Jones said.
Among the newly registered votes was Hannah Demello, 20.
“I wanted to vote for Trump,” she said. “I agree with a lot of the things he wants to change in the government, including lowering taxes.”
Polls were busy first thing in the morning in Augusta, and steady throughout the day, despite the fact that nearly 45% of active registered voters cast their votes absentee.
By midday the number of voters coming in waned, though it was expected to pick back up in the evening, when residents get out of work and go vote.
Bobby-Jo Bechard, a candidate for an at-large Augusta City Council seat, said this election is so important her three adult sons each voted for the first time.
“I’m sure part of it was I’m running for office, and they see how passionate I am about it, but I also think they realized this is a very important election, and that every vote does matter,” Bechard said.
Kathryn Mastricolo, a volunteer with Marcus Emerson’s campaign for Legislature, said most voters Tuesday seemed friendly and upbeat, in contrast to some national media reports she’s seen about the contentious election.
EVERY VOTE COUNTS
Kristin Parks, town clerk in Readfield, said turnout was good Tuesday, and she also issued some 800 absentee ballots before the election. The town has around 2,440 registered voters.
After an afternoon lull, the line to vote at the Skowhegan municipal building started to grow around 4 p.m. Town Clerk Gail Pelotte said she was expecting an afternoon rush to end around 4:30 p.m. following a busy morning with a steady line.
As of about 3:30 p.m., a total of 3,200 ballots had been cast in Skowhegan, including 1,900 absentee ballots, according to Pelotte. The town had just over 5,000 registered voters as of June.
“For like the first two hours, there was no stop,” Pelotte said. “We had to take one of our books and divide it in two.”
The wait to register was long too.
Megan Ellis, 37, was waiting in the hallway for her daughter’s boyfriend to register to vote. She was not sure why some people wait until Election Day, but took it as a good sign.
“At least that means there’s a lot of people taking interest,” Ellis said.
Pelotte said voters coming in throughout the day have been polite and happy. “It’s pretty heartwarming,” she said. “All of the horror stories we thought we were going to see — it’s been awesome.”
Colby College student Mariella Laria, 19, of Massachusetts was among those who took a minibus to the polls Tuesday to vote. Mairead Levitt/Morning Sentinel
Tuesday afternoon, a white minibus pulled up outside Thomas College, shuttling students from nearby Colby College to cast their votes in Waterville.
Many of the students cited reproductive rights as a deciding factor in the presidential race. Mariella Laria, 19, of Massachusetts said she was voting for Harris because of her policies on abortion rights as well as her general character.
“I think she is a good person,“ Laria said. “Also, the rule of law — I don’t think we should have a felon as a president.”
Colby College student Connor Ransom, 21, of Poolsville, Maryland is shown volunteering Tuesday at the Waterville polls. Mairead Levitt/Morning Sentinel
Another Colby student — Connor Ransom, 21, of Poolsville, Maryland — was volunteering in Waterville to help make sure the polls run smoothly.
“Most people who volunteer are retired,“ Ransom said, “so it’s helpful to have young people who are more energetic and can move heavy things like voting machines around.”
Ransom pointed out that a lot of races, especially the local ones, can be decided by a few votes.
“People forget how important voting in local elections is,“ he said. “They can come down to less than a 100-vote difference.“
Amy Calder, Emily Duggan, Keith Edwards, Jake Freudberg, Hannah Kaufman, Mairead Levitt and Scott Monroe contributed reporting.
Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
A Maine Republican Party online survey on the gubernatorial primary has sparked frustration and exposed divisions among the crowded field just a week before the party aims to project unity at its convention in Augusta.
Multiple campaigns told the Bangor Daily News they were not aware of the poll in advance or had not received the survey in an email sent out widely by the party last week. The campaigns said the survey’s timing and the fact that not every candidate had the chance to work the poll and vote for themselves sent the wrong message.
Former fitness executive Ben Midgley won the straw poll, which the party noted was not scientific. His campaign cited the nearly 32% support as a sign of rising momentum in a race that’s been led so far by lobbyist and former federal official Bobby Charles. Charles came in second at almost 30%, and entrepreneur Jonathan Bush came in third at 13%.
Charles has led previous polls without spending nearly as much on advertising as Bush or groups backing lobbyist and former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason. Midgley was among a large group of candidates stuck in the single digits in a survey released in March by Pan Atlantic Research.
Staffers at two campaigns said there was briefly talk of boycotting the convention after the poll. Delegates are poised to gather over Friday and Saturday at Augusta Civic Center, where the party says another straw poll is planned.
Mason said he did not see the survey in his email but acknowledged it may have been received by his team without it getting up the chain.
“It probably wasn’t the wisest thing to do for party unity,” Mason said. “It’s not the best look.”
Vincent Harris, a Charles spokesperson, said the campaign “did not push or promote this straw poll to a single person.” He said the campaign was unaware of the survey until Midgley’s release.
“As Republicans, we believe voter integrity is important and yet there was no clarity here,” he added.
Entrepreneur Owen McCarthy’s campaign was also not aware of the online stroll poll until after results were released. A spokesman for the campaign called it “unfortunate that with the convention right around the corner, the whole process has been tainted by the perception that party insiders are trying to foist their preferred candidate onto grassroots primary voters.”
Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine GOP, said the party believed all the candidates had received the poll, but “we take everybody at their word that says they didn’t receive it.”
He and a spokesperson for the Bush campaign also separately noted that the straw poll was discussed during a pre-convention Zoom meeting, and he said it went to the party’s entire email list. The poll went to at least two BDN email addresses.
Savage emphasized that the convention poll would be “one person, one vote” per delegate.
“Everything in a few days is going to be about the convention,” he said. “Everybody is invited to compete and do their best and see how they can do.”
More than 200 Fort Fairfield Middle High School students, staff and administrators filed into the school’s gym on April 8 for an anti-bullying assembly.
On stage, surrounded by neon tube lights, was the Icon Dance Team, a New York-based troupe that travels to schools around the U.S. dancing and singing to radio hits interspersed with messages about self-respect and standing up for others.
Parents were notified of the performance in advance, MSAD 20 Superintendent Melanie Blais said. No one contacted the district afterward to complain.
But six days later, on April 14, the conservative influencer Libs of TikTok blasted a series of posts about the performance — and its lead dancer — to its millions of social media followers and accused the district of “openly grooming” its students.
“This is what schools are pushing on your children using our tax dollars,” one caption reads. “SHUT THEM DOWN.”
Commenters tagged the U.S. Department of Justice and called Maine a “demonic” state. Some encouraged violence against one of the dancers.
District officials insist the performance focused only on encouraging positive self-esteem and counteracting bullying. And despite the recent furor on social media, they say local people have shared no concerns.
“The content of the program included messages about standing up for oneself and others, reporting bullying to trusted adults, encouraging students to set goals and to include peers who may be left out,” Blais said.
The issue concerned the group’s frontman, James Linehan, who is also a musician with the stage name J-Line. In his music career, Linehan bills himself as “your favorite gay pop star” and is currently on a tour called the “Dirty Pop Party,” where he performs alongside other LGBTQ artists.
Libs of TikTok, run by Chaya Raichik, a former Brooklyn real estate agent turned social media provocateur, pulled photos from Linehan’s music website, in which he is shirtless, and targeted his sexuality to argue that he was pushing sexually charged content on children.
The Icon Dance Team, which also goes by the names Echo Dance Team and Vital Dance Team, is a separate entity. The group, active since at least 2011, features Linehan and two backup dancers and has performed at more than 2,000 schools, according to its website.
Performances consist of 30 minutes of choreographed dancing and singing to songs about self-acceptance, followed by Linehan recounting how he was bullied in grade school and his journey to finding his life passions and respecting himself.
School officials reviewed the group’s website before scheduling the performance and found it aligned with the district’s anti-bullying goals, Blais said.
“The group was chosen based on strong recommendations from several other school districts where similar performances had been presented in the past,” Blais said. “Those districts described the assemblies as positive and energetic and praised their messages about self-esteem and anti-bullying.”
Hours of the group’s school performances posted by other districts online and reviewed by the Bangor Daily News do not include suggestive dancing and Linehan does not mention his sexuality.
This is not the first time the dance team has faced criticism, nor the first time Libs of TikTok has taken aim at Maine.
In the past year, the account amplified a school board debate over the harassment of transgender students in North Berwick and the election of a Bangor city councilor with a criminal record. The account was among the right-wing influencers that successfully campaigned to doom a 2024 bill before the Maine legislature that surrounded gender-affirming care.
Icon’s performances at schools in Utah, Ohio, Texas and Tennessee have come under scrutiny from parents who referred to Linehan’s music career and posts on his social media accounts.
A district in Missouri canceled two assemblies in 2023 after receiving complaints. Some of the criticism is linked to allegations that Linehan encouraged students at some performances to follow his Instagram, which is tied to his music career. Parents alleged it contained “inappropriate” content.
That Instagram page is now private. Blais said they raised the issue with the group ahead of the performance.
“That was not a part of the performance in any way and we clarified this with the company prior to their visit to our school,” she said.
Linehan did not respond to a request for comment.
Libs of TikTok has almost 7 million followers between X, Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social, the platform founded by President Donald Trump.
Raichik, the account’s creator, has mingled with Trump and other right-wing politicians and activists at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, the president’s Florida residence. Her posts, which can receive hundreds of thousands to millions of views, have helped shape anti-LGBTQ discourse in conservative circles and have been promoted by the likes of podcaster Joe Rogan and Fox News.
The Southern Poverty Law Center labels Raichik as an extremist.
But despite the assembly generating national outrage last week, in Fort Fairfield, the community appears unshaken.
“We’ve not received a single call or email from local community members that I am aware of,” Blais said. “We initially received a handful of calls from individuals who were clearly not affiliated with the school district in any way, but they were not interested in hearing what actually took place.”
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