Maine Rejects Anti-Voting Ballot Measure, Reaffirms Voting Access 

Maine voters rejected a Republican-backed ballot initiative Tuesday that would have imposed new photo ID rules and severely limited mail-in voting — a decisive win for voting rights advocates who said the measure threatened to upend the state’s long-standing tradition of accessible elections.

The measure, appearing on the ballot as Question 1, would have created a new photo ID requirement for both in-person and mail-in voting and eliminated programs that expanded access to absentee ballots. It also would have ended Maine’s permanent absentee voter list — requiring voters to apply for a mail ballot each election — banned ballot requests on behalf of family members and limited every town to a single drop box.

That would have meant a city like Portland — home to nearly 70,000 people — would only be allowed one drop box, the same as a small town like Beddington with a population of 60.

“This vote is an affirmation of Maine voters’ confidence in our elections,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) told Democracy Docket. “It sends a strong message of support for democracy and for election reforms that increase access to voting while keeping our elections safe and secure.”

Both Gov. Janet Mills (D) and Graham Platner, the two leading Democratic candidates for the party’s Senate nomination next year, campaigned against the measure.

For decades, Maine has prided itself on having one of the nation’s highest voter participation rates. It had the fourth-highest voting rate in 2024. And with Question 1’s defeat, that legacy remains intact — a reaffirmation of the state’s broad commitment to making the ballot accessible to all voters.

Led by Dinner Table Action, a conservative political committee founded by state Rep. Laurel Libby (R), proponents of the measure argued it was needed to restore confidence in the system. But pro-voting advocates, including Bellows, said the initiative addressed a virtually nonexistent problem and risked disenfranchising eligible voters.

“Maine voters have a high level of confidence in the integrity of our elections,” Bellows said. “That’s demonstrated not only in our turnout year after year, but in the results tonight. Maine voters overwhelmingly rejected changes to our election laws that were really imported out of state from Donald Trump’s agenda.”

A state fiscal analysis estimated the proposed requirements would have cost more than $1.3 million to implement. Instead, the Secretary of State’s office and local clerks will continue operating under the current system — one of the most accessible in the country — with no changes to absentee voting or voter ID rules.

“In the moment that we are in — not the institutions, not Congress — is going to save us,” Bellows added. “It is the people that will save us. And on a night like tonight, when the voters speak, it is clear that a majority of Americans favor democracy, the Constitution and the rule of law.”

Maine stands apart from more than a dozen states that have adopted or expanded strict voter ID laws since 2020.

“Tonight’s results are a major win for all Mainers. Question 1 would have ended absentee voting as we know it, further diluting the voting rights of people with disabilities, seniors, and working Mainers who are unable to take the day off from work to vote,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a press release. “By contacting over 86,000 voters, the DNC was proud to support efforts to ensure Mainers are the ones who choose their elected officials, not far-right billionaires who want to roll back voting rights and limit access to the ballot. Mainers sent a clear message tonight: Our democracy and fundamental rights to vote and choose our own leaders are not for sale.”