A group of Republican lawmakers are looking to end the controversial practice of same-day voter registration in Maine.
Rep. Barbara A. Bagshaw (R-Windham), together with eight Republican co-sponsors, are pushing legislation that would reinstitute time limits on when voters must register to vote in order to participate in a given election.
“I recently had favorable communication with four town clerks from municipalities in Maine who support eliminating Election Day voter registration at the polls,” Rep. Bagshaw told the Maine Wire.”
“They felt that, administratively, it would be a lot easier on them to manage and we discussed a potential compromise,” Bagshaw said.
According to Bagshaw, her bill would strike a balance between encouraging democratic participation in elections and the administrative burden of same-day registrations by setting the registration deadline just one week prior to Election Day.
“The compromise would be ending voter registration on the Thursday before Election Day, which would also coincide with the close of early in-person voting,” she said. “The goal is to make our elections run smoothly.”
As of October 2024, twenty-three states and Washington, DC, have same-day voter registration laws on the books. Of these, twenty states and the nation’s capital allow voters to register on Election Day, while the remaining three allow voters to register and absentee vote on the same day.
In the rest of the country, voters must have their registration finalized by a set deadline in advance of casting their ballots, often between eight and thirty days ahead of an election.
Under Maine’s current laws, unregistered voters can arrive at the polls on Election Day, register to vote, and cast a ballot just like any other voter.
That’s been the law in Maine since 1973, when Maine became one of the first states to adopt same-day registration with the passage of a bill introduced by Republican Sen. Elden Shute of Farmington and signed by Democratic Gov. Ken Curtis.
Nearly a decade and a half ago, state lawmakers made a successful attempt to repeal this policy, but this was quickly reversed by a People’s Veto with about 60 percent support.
At the time, only a few other states allowed for same-day voter registration. Most states that currently allow voters to register and vote on the same day first adopted these policies in the mid-to-late 2010s, with New York and Virginia joining in the 2020s.
Click Here for More Information on Same-Day Registration Nationwide
While supporters of same-day registration have argued that it encourages voter participation, opponents have suggests that it leaves the system open to abuse.
Bagshaw’s bill, LD 349, represents a renewed effort to roll back Maine’s same-day voting policies and would prevent anyone from registering to vote after the last Thursday before the election.
Cosponsoring this legislation are Sen. Dick Bradstreet (R-Kennebec), Rep. Kimberly M. Haggan (R-Hampden), Rep. Kathy Irene Javner (R-Chester), Rep. Laurel D. Libby (R-Auburn), Rep. Sheila A. Lyman (R-Livermore Falls), Rep. Shelley Rudnicki (R-Fairfield), Rep. Tammy L. Schmersal-Burgess (R-Mexico), and Sen. Marianne Moore (R-Washington).
Members of the public will have the opportunity to make their voices heard on this bill in Augusta early next week.
A public hearing for LD 349 has been scheduled for Monday, February 10 at 11am in State House Room 437. Testimony may also be submitted online at www.mainelegislature.org/testimony.
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