Maine

Data dive: What Maine's early mail-in ballots can tell us

Published

1 year ago

October 27, 2024

Data dive: What Maine's early mail-in ballots can tell us

AUGUSTA — With a little more than a week until the November 5 election, a good percentage of Maine voters has already voted. Another sizeable group of Mainers have requested ballots but have not yet returned them. While how voters marked their ballots is not known, what is known is the party affiliation of those who have requested ballots.

Maine does not provide numbers for walk-in early or absentee voters; however, many town clerks have been reporting a brisk business at the various town offices. All of the data for this story came from the Maine Secretary of State’s website.

In a series of charts, we are showing what is a snapshot in time — the numbers that existed on October 25. Voters have until election day to return their ballots, and can even walk them in to their polling place on election day itself.

This chart shows the total number of ballots that had been requested and returned by October 25. While Maine town offices can start to prepare the ballots for counting a few days before election day, the ballots themselves won’t be counted until election day itself.

This chart shows the percentage of voters requesting ballots by party affiliation. However, we do not know how the voters voted, and in several races, Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) comes into play. Democrats at this point in time do not have more than 50 percent of the number of ballots.

These are the ballots still outstanding in the first district.

In the second district, there are fewer voters, and fewer mail-in ballots. Here are the returned ballots in Maine’s second district:

Finally, these are the ballots that have not yet been returned. Voters are encouraged to hand-deliver them because if they do not get to the polling place by election day, they will not be counted.

However you choose to vote, make sure you do so by Tuesday, November 5. Polls in Maine close at 8 p.m. throughout the state. If you are not sure where your polling place is, call your local town office or city hall and speak to someone in the town clerk’s office.

Source link

Click to comment

Maine

Woman dies after crashing into stopped tractor-trailer on Maine Turnpike

Published

34 minutes ago

December 9, 2025

Press Room

Woman dies after crashing into stopped tractor-trailer on Maine Turnpike

YORK, Maine (WGME) — Police say an 81-year-old woman died after crashing into a tractor-trailer that had stopped in the breakdown lane on the Maine Turnpike in York.

Maine State Police say 81-year-old Janice Goldsmith of Massachusetts was driving on the Maine Turnpike in York around 3:15 p.m. on Monday when she crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that was stopped in the breakdown lane.

Goldsmith died at the scene.

According to police, the tractor-trailer had stopped in the breakdown lane due to a mechanical malfunction, and the driver had placed reflective warning triangles in the breakdown lane as required.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Source link

Maine

‘Just b——-‘: Rep. Pingree says she was lied to about ICE facility in Scarborough

Published

13 hours ago

December 9, 2025

Press Room

‘Just b——-‘: Rep. Pingree says she was lied to about ICE facility in Scarborough

PORTLAND (WGME) – Congresswoman Chellie Pingree says what she was told about an ICE facility in Maine is “B.S.”

Pingree says she and her staff got to tour the ICE facility in Scarborough Monday.

She says there was one person being detained while she was there.

The facility has three holding cells, and she says she was told there have never been more than five people inside.

Pingree and an attorney raised concerns about detainees being denied their Constitutional rights to have an attorney present.

“We checked out that office,” Pingree said. “We were told there were space limitations of bringing attorneys, so that’s just b——-, there’s plenty of room in there, you can bring in an attorney or the attorney can stand in the doorway.”

“In my particular case, my client was enrolling in an alternative, was forced to enroll in an alternatives to detention program, where he would have his whereabouts monitored,” Melissa Brennan of ILAP said. “He didn’t even understand what he was signing, and I think what’s most important is that people are deprived of that opportunity to consult with someone, to have that reassurance of having your legal counsel next to you.”

Pingree says she was told no one is held at the detention center overnight.

She says she didn’t see anything inside that was out of line for a facility like this.

CBS13 reached out to ICE for comment late Monday afternoon on Pingree’s visit, and we are waiting to hear back.

Source link

Maine

Penobscot County’s first case of bird flu confirmed

Published

1 day ago

December 8, 2025

Press Room

Penobscot County’s first case of bird flu confirmed

A strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, has been detected in a flock of backyard birds in Penobscot County this month for the first time since it appeared in Maine almost four years ago.

The case of H5N1 was confirmed on Dec. 1, according to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, which reports cases by county and does not specify towns. Federal disease tracking data show the new case affected 90 birds and is one of the few known cases in eastern or northern Maine. Two flocks were affected in Hancock County in 2023, following two in Washington County the year before.

It’s only the third known detection in a backyard flock in Maine this year; the first two, in Cumberland County, were confirmed in February and affected about 110 birds. Statewide, health officials have raised the current risk level to high in response this month as the wild birds that typically spread the disease are migrating.

That risk level reflects the likelihood of birds getting sick, not people, according to Jim Britt, spokesperson for the state agriculture department. Commercial flocks haven’t been affected. The disease has been detected in numerous wild birds around Maine this year, primarily in southern and coastal counties.

While people can get bird flu, this strain isn’t considered a big public health risk, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. Human cases have come from exposure to birds and dairy cattle, according to the CDC, but there are no confirmed U.S. cases of people spreading it to each other.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza is generally spread to poultry through the droppings of wild birds or exposure to them. It was first found in Maine in 2022, and has been detected in a handful of flocks annually after numerous cases that year.

Signs of infection in poultry include low energy and appetite, soft or misshapen eggs, swelling around the head, purple wattles, combs or legs, coughing and sneezing, nasal discharge or sudden death.

To limit risk to their flocks, poultry owners can protect them from contact with wild waterfowl by providing indoor shelter and covering outdoor areas. Sick and dying birds can be reported to the state online.

Source link