By PATRICK WHITTLE and JOHN HANNA, Related Press
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s elections in recent times have been comparatively freed from issues, and verified circumstances of voter fraud are exceedingly uncommon.
That’s not stopping Republicans from pushing for main modifications in the way in which the state conducts its voting.
Maine is one among two states with election-related initiatives on the Nov. 4 poll however is placing probably the most far-reaching measure earlier than voters. In Texas, Republicans are asking voters to clarify within the state structure that people who find themselves not U.S. residents are ineligible to vote.
Maine’s Query 1 facilities on requiring voter ID, however is extra sweeping in nature. The initiative, which has the backing of an influential conservative group within the state, additionally would restrict using drop packing containers to only one per municipality and create restrictions for absentee voting even because the apply has been rising in recognition.
Voters in each states will determine on the measures at a time when President Donald Trump continues to lie about widespread fraud resulting in his loss within the 2020 presidential election and make unsubstantiated claims about future election-rigging, a technique that has turn out to be routine throughout election years. Republicans in Congress and state legislatures have been pushing for proof of citizenship necessities to register and vote, however with solely restricted success.
Maine’s initiative would impose voter ID, prohibit absentee voting
The Maine proposal seeks to require voters to supply a voter ID earlier than casting a poll, a provision that has been adopted in a number of different states, largely these managed by Republicans. In April, Wisconsin voters enshrined that state’s present voter ID regulation into the state’s structure.
Query 1 additionally would get rid of two days of absentee voting, prohibit requests for absentee ballots by telephone or relations, finish absentee voter standing for seniors and folks with disabilities, and restrict the variety of drop packing containers, amongst different modifications.
Absentee voting is well-liked in Maine, the place Democrats management the Legislature and governor’s workplace and voters have elected a Republican and an impartial as U.S. senators. Practically half of voters there used absentee voting within the 2024 presidential election.
Gov. Janet Mills is one among many Democrats within the state talking out towards the proposed modifications.
“Whether or not you vote in particular person or by absentee poll, you’ll be able to belief that your vote will likely be counted pretty,” Mills stated. “However that elementary proper to vote is underneath assault from Query 1.”
Proponents of the voter ID push stated it’s about shoring up election safety.
“There’s been a whole lot of noise about what it will supposedly do, however right here’s the easy fact: Query 1 is about securing Maine’s elections,” stated Republican Rep. Laurel Libby, a proponent of the measure.
A key supporter of the poll initiative is Dinner Desk PAC, a conservative group within the state. Dinner Desk launched Voter ID for ME, which has raised greater than $600,000 to advertise the initiative. The majority of that cash has come from the Republican State Management Committee, which advocates for Republican candidates and initiatives on the state degree by means of the nation. Save Absentee Voting, a Maine group that opposes the initiative, has raised greater than $1.6 million, with the Nationwide Schooling Affiliation as its high donor.
The campaigning for and towards the initiative is enjoying out because the state and FBI are investigating how dozens of unmarked ballots meant for use on this 12 months’s election arrived inside a lady’s Amazon order. The secretary of state’s workplace says the clean ballots, nonetheless bundled and wrapped in plastic, is not going to be used within the election.
Texas voters contemplate a citizenship requirement
In Texas, voters are deciding whether or not so as to add wording to the state structure that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and different backers stated would assure that noncitizens will be unable to vote in any elections there. State and federal legal guidelines already make it unlawful for noncitizens to vote.
13 states have made related modifications to their constitutions since North Dakota first did in 2018. Proposed constitutional amendments are on the November 2026 poll in Kansas and South Dakota.
The measures have up to now confirmed well-liked, successful approval with a median of 72% of the vote.
“I believe it wants to comb the nation,” stated Republican state Rep. A.J. Louderback, who represents a district southwest of Houston. “I believe we have to clear this mess up.”
Voters already need to attest they’re U.S. residents after they register, and voting by noncitizens, which is uncommon, is punishable as a felony and may result in deportation.
Louderback and different supporters of such amendments level to insurance policies in not less than 20 communities throughout the nation that permit noncitizens to vote in native elections, although none are in Texas. They embrace Oakland and San Francisco in California, the place noncitizens can forged ballots at school board races if they’ve youngsters within the public faculties, the District of Columbia, and a number of other cities in Maryland and Vermont.
Different states, together with Kansas, have wording of their constitutions placing a citizenship requirement in affirmative phrases: Any U.S. citizen over 18 is eligible to vote. In some states, amendments have rewritten the language to make it extra of a prohibition: Solely U.S. residents are eligible to vote.
The article on voting within the Texas Structure at the moment begins with a listing of three “courses of individuals not allowed to vote”: individuals underneath 18, convicted felons and people “who’ve been decided mentally incompetent by a courtroom.” The Nov. 4 modification would add a fourth, “individuals who aren’t residents of the US.”
Critics say the proposed modifications are pointless
Critics say the Maine voter ID requirement and Texas noncitizen prohibition are options searching for an issue and promote a longstanding conservative GOP narrative that noncitizen voting is a big drawback, when in actual fact it’s exceedingly uncommon.
In Texas, the secretary of state’s workplace not too long ago introduced it had discovered the names of two,700 “potential noncitizens” on its registration rolls out of the state’s almost 18.5 million registered voters.
Veronikah Warms, workers legal professional on the Texas Civil Rights Undertaking, stated pushing the narrative encourages discrimination and stokes concern of state retaliation amongst naturalized residents and folks of coloration. Her group works to guard the rights of these teams and immigrants and opposes the proposed modification.
“It simply doesn’t serve any goal in addition to furthering the lie that noncitizens are attempting to subvert our democratic course of,” she stated. “That is simply furthering a dangerous narrative that can make it scarier for individuals to really train their constitutional proper.”
In Maine, approval of Query 1 would probably make voting tougher general, stated Mark Brewer, chair of the College of Maine political science division. He added that claims of widespread voter fraud are unsupported by proof.
“The information present that the extra hoops and restrictions you placed on voting, the tougher it’s to vote and the less individuals will vote,” he stated.
Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.
