Question 1 on the Nov. 8 state ballot asks “Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Public Laws of 2011 that requires new voters to register to vote at least two business days prior to an election?”
Speaker of the House Robert Nutting (R-Oakland) sponsored the legislation in question, An Act to Preserve the Integrity of the Voter Registration and Election Process. The Republican-controlled 125th Legislature passed the bill along strict party lines and Gov. Paul LePage signed it June 21.
The same day, opponents of the measure filed an application for a people’s veto. The Protect Maine Votes Coalition quickly formed and gathered the 57,277 signatures necessary to gain a spot on the ballot.
The issue is a highly partisan one.
Republicans characterize the law as an effort to tighten security and clamp down on potential voter fraud. Democrats, meanwhile, have said it’s an attempt to disenfranchise college students and other voters who tend to use same-day registration and support non-Republican candidates and issues.
Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers, a Republican, conducted an investigation into potential voter fraud this summer, releasing his findings at a Sept. 21 press conference.
Summers proved one incidence of voter fraud, according to his report. A citizen of El Salvador registered and voted in Portland on Election Day 2002. The person was deported in 2006.
Despite the absence of widespread fraud, Summers said his findings “have clearly shown that the integrity of our current system is vulnerable and have confirmed my belief that our dedicated municipal election officials need some breathing room to ensure the accuracy of their work and protect the integrity and security of our elections system.”
Republicans also argue the bill will lighten the Election Day load on municipal employees responsible for running elections.
The primary organization representing municipal employees, however – the Maine Municipal Association – supports same-day registration. The Maine Town and City Clerks Association, a group whose membership includes the front line of municipal employees who actually register voters on Election Day, testified against Nutting’s bill.
District 53 Rep. Les Fossel (R-Alna) believes the law creates a reasonable restriction that would help ensure a fair, honest system.
“Voter fraud happens in the state of Maine,” Fossel said, citing a 1993 incident in which two Democrats, including a top aide to former Speaker of the House John Martin, pleaded guilty to burglary and ballot tampering charges.
The tampering took place during the recount process after the election, when the men broke into a storage room, a variety of fraud outside the scope of voter registration law.
If one voter casts a fraudulent vote, however, it’s one voter too many for Fossel. Twice in the last decade, in 2002 and again in 2004, he lost elections by narrow margins.
In 2002, the Maine Senate decided the election in his opponent’s favor. In 2004, Fossel lost by two votes.
Fossel, citing 2010 census figures, said registered voters in his hometown of Alna exceed the number of voting-age citizens.
“Are there people on that list who shouldn’t be?” Fossel said. “Yeah, there probably are.”
The end of same-day registration would likely inconvenience some voters, but Fossel believes the benefits outweigh any small hassles.
Fossel calls the Democrats’ allegations that the Republicans aim to disenfranchise voters “total nonsense.” The numbers of Democrats and Republicans who use same-day registration are roughly equal, he said.
Valarie Johnson, chairwoman of the Lincoln County Democratic Committee, sees Chapter 399 as a “shameless” attempt on the part of LePage and Republican legislators to engage in “a national conservative agenda to disenfranchise voters, to raise barriers to voter participation.”
Johnson, in an e-mailed statement, said same-day registration “increases voter participation” without sacrificing security. “There is absolutely no change in the proof, validation or other security measures required to register under the new law,” she wrote.
The Yes on 1 campaign “is all about restoring access to voting that has worked well for 38 years,” Johnson wrote. She promised to “fight the national conservative agenda, the shady big money spending and the shameless legislation signed by Governor LePage by leading an all-volunteer citizen effort in Lincoln County to get out the YES on 1 vote.”