Election 2026
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Secretary of State Shenna Bellows projected Tuesday that as many as 70% of Maine voters will cast ballots in an election with control of the U.S. Senate on the line after more than 300,000 voted absentee before polls opened.
By 3 p.m., her office had heard of no significant problems at the polls. Justice Department election monitors were stationed in Portland, Lewiston and South Portland and an unprecedented number of congressional observers were also in the state, Bellows said.
“It just seems boring, which is good today,” the Democrat said in an interview.
The calm came despite a crush of outside attention. The race between U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson could decide which party controls the Senate, while the open 2nd Congressional District and the race to succeed Gov. Janet Mills are also on the ballot.
Maine clerks had more than 300,000 absentee ballots in hand as of Monday, about a third of the active voters, according to state data. Democrats cast 47% of those ballots, while unenrolled voters cast 28% and Republicans 23%. Republicans have tended to vote in greater numbers in person on Election Day.
Maine’s turnout was roughly 62% in 2022, the highest in the country that year, and 75% in the 2024 presidential election. Those figures measure turnout against the voting-age population. She thought turnout would exceed 65% and potentially get to 70%.
Local figures backed up her outlook. In Gray, nearly 1,500 people had voted in person by 2:15 p.m., on top of 2,200 absentee ballots returned by Monday, putting turnout at 62% of active voters with more than five hours of voting left. Warden Carol West said voting had been smooth and steady, with a bigger bump expected when school let out.
Biddeford had about 2,700 in-person voters as of the mid-afternoon, with lines to get in during the morning, city spokesperson Danica Lamontagne said. Combined with 4,700 absentee ballots, that put the city at 59% of active voters.
In Houlton, about 830 people had voted in person by 2:45 p.m. and about 770 absentee ballots had been processed, or about 45% of the town’s roughly 3,500 registered voters. Reporters from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times focused on the Senate race visited the polling place.
Bangor had about 1,500 in-person voters by 10 a.m., up from about 530 at 8 a.m., on top of more than 6,700 absentee ballots. At Lewiston’s Longley School, which serves three of the city’s seven wards, about 870 people had voted by 11 a.m. City Clerk Kathy Montejo said turnout there was on pace with the last gubernatorial election.
Bellows said the reports from clerks were consistent across the state.
“We’re getting equal reports from rural places as well as from the more urban centers of high voter turnout, so we’re not seeing discrepancies based on what we’re hearing,” she said. “Right now, it seems like there’s pretty broad enthusiasm everywhere.”
The federal monitors have not been an issue, Bellows said. They wore plain clothes, as the Justice Department said they would, and sat with other observers. Maine also drew more congressional observers than ever before, she said, with both parties and both chambers sending them. In Augusta, they were cycling in and out but caused no disruptions.
The complaints her office received were routine, Bellows said, such as campaign signs placed too close to a polling place and voters wearing sweatshirts or buttons with campaign messages.
“There’s nothing standard about 2026,” she said. “But in terms of election administration, despite all of the drama and anxiety that was raised about what could happen, what is happening is yet another smooth, safe and secure election.”
BDN writers Callie Ferguson, Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli and Annie Rupertus contributed to this report.