World News – US – Irregularities, almost non-existent vote counting problems in Maine

Fears of voter intimidation, given such a polarized electorate, were also unfounded on election day

Fears of widespread voting irregularities, problems with vote counting and voter intimidation did not materialize on election day in Maine, even as the overall turnout hit record highs

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In fact, Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said that even though the in-person turnout was higher than expected, he predicted that municipalities would be in good shape to release the results on Tuesday night.

« I know people across the country have been saying, be patient, be prepared to wait awhile for results, but we think we might see results tonight, » Dunlap said on Tuesday after- noon in front of the Augusta Civic Center

The pandemic prompted more voters than ever to vote by mail, not only in Maine but across the country As of Tuesday afternoon, 508,918 missing ballots were processed in Maine, more than double the number of ‘four years ago and roughly 66% of 2016 turnout Yet Dunlap said Maine was well positioned to get through election night relatively smoothly, in part due to a government decision Janet Mills will allow city clerks to begin processing mail-in ballots three days earlier than usual

Kennebunk Town Clerk Merton Brown uses his mobile phone flashlight to examine a board printed from a scanner while checking the ballot count after the polls close at City Hall in Kennebunk Tuesday Gregory Rec / Team Photographer

In addition to the more than half a million mail-in ballots that were returned, around 18,000 were still pending at 3 p.m. on Tuesday Voters had until 8 p.m. to get them to their office. vote or they would not be counted It was not clear Tuesday night whether Maine was having mail delays with ballots, as had been reported elsewhere

Anna Kellar, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Maine, which had 91 election observers stationed in 16 counties, said few problems had been reported anywhere

« With such an influx of mail-in ballots, it’s no surprise that Maine is having a smooth election day voting in person, » she said

As of 11:30 a.m., 310 of 571 electoral districts (50% of voters) had reported the results to The Associated Press.These totals included strongly democratic cities that voted with an overwhelming majority absent, most notably Portland (83% of voters). all votes), South Portland (75%) and Lewiston (70%)

In other states, including the battlefield states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, the mail-in vote count could not begin until Tuesday, which means these results may not be final for several days

About 90% of towns and cities in Maine use electronic tabulators to count votes, speeding up the process In the town of Kennebunk, York County, election officials have started counting ‘ballots auxiliaries ”, those ballots that the machines will not count because the voters did not fill them out correctly – either by writing their answer or by filling the circle incorrectly Five staff members hand-counted 21 auxiliary ballots – many more than usual, Clerk Merton Brown said

Then the results of the national, regional and local races were printed from the 10 ballot-fed machines – either on election day or over the weekend Then the 10 rolls of paper were unrolled and the results read aloud and tabulated

After reading the results of the 10 machines, they were written on a master sheet and after that was done, Brown said, he will descend into the 99-year-old auditorium and read them aloud. still not done at 10 a.m. – largely because of the excessive amount of writing to all different races – including written suggestions such as Jesus Christ and Kanye West

Chief Electoral Officer Mary Lou Nedeau, who has held the post for 20 years, said it was not uncommon for people to add written entries, but this year, with so many postal votes, there are had more people doing it, up to 10-meters to print on the tape

In total, Kennebunk has 10,568 registered voters – including 240 registered on election day – and the town received 8,347 ballots

Mary Lou Nedeau, Chief Electoral Officer at Kennebunk, rolls up a printed copy of the poll scanner after polling closes at town hall on Tuesday Gregory Rec / Team Photographer

Statewide, Dunlap said there were a few minor ‘issues’ with the voting machines that technicians easily fixed These happen every year

While results in Maine should not be delayed, the placing pick remains a wildcard Dunlap said his staff were ready to use priority voting if necessary, particularly in the US Course at Senate, but he did not set a timetable on this matter

« It will be as soon as we can get the material to Augusta, » he said « Considering the volume of the ballots, I will not guarantee anyone a schedule, but we will tell people where we are at some point « 

For the 2018 race in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which was settled by choice of ranking, the process took about two weeks

A highly polarized electorate, exacerbated by anxieties over the coronavirus pandemic, raised fears across the country about confrontations at polling stations, but it turned out that there was little problems

« We’ve heard a lot of concerns about this … in fact, we’ve been planning with Public Safety, Maine Emergency Management, the Attorney General’s Office, what to do if we get a frantic call from a manager if it happens. produced at a polling station and they can’t control it, « said Dunlap By late afternoon he had heard no report

« I think it shows that we are kind of a small town and people know each other, » he said « It’s much less likely to happen here and the directors do a good job to control polling stations, « 

President Trump and his allies spent the days leading up to the election casting doubts on the integrity of the vote count and threatening legal action, especially in states that he believes in, such as the Pennsylvania He falsely claimed postal voting was corrupt and speculated, without evidence, that widespread fraud would occur

« The system we have in place allows us to catch this stuff pretty quickly and people who engage in this type of behavior are really at high risk because they are generally treated as a crime, » he said. he declared

Even though the absentee vote shattered previous records, many still turned out on Tuesday to vote in person

Christine Dakers, 55, of Saco, said she voted in person for fear her vote for Biden would be invalidated otherwise

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Maine, United States Senate