Request Your Absentee Ballot Online
You can request an absentee ballot online. The deadline to request ballots using this service is 5:00 pm on Thursday, October 29, 2020.
What is absentee voting and how does it work?
Absentee voting allows you to cast a ballot without going to a voting place on Election Day.
Who may vote absentee?
Any registered voter may cast an absentee ballot instead of voting in person at a voting place on Election Day. You don't need to have a specific reason or be unable to vote at the voting place on Election Day to receive an absentee ballot.
What are the steps to voting by absentee ballot?
- Complete an absentee ballot application to get a ballot; then,
- Fill out and deliver the ballot back to the municipal clerk, or to the Secretary of State, Division of Elections (if you are a Uniformed Service or Overseas voter).
When can I request a ballot?
Absentee ballots may be requested beginning 3 months before Election Day, and until the 3rd business day prior to the election, unless special circumstances exist. Make your request early to allow enough time for the ballot to be mailed to you.
Is there a deadline to request an absentee ballot?
For the July 14, 2020 State Primary and Special Referendum Election, the deadline to request an absentee ballot by telephone or online Absentee Ballot Request service is 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 9, 2020.
A voter may request to vote in the presence of the clerk or submit a written request to take an absentee ballot outside of the clerk's presence, up to and including election day. A written request is a completed and signed absentee ballot application form or a free-form request that is signed by the voter or an immediate family member of the voter.
How do I apply for and receive an absentee ballot?
Contact the municipal clerk in the town or city where you are registered to vote. Uniformed Service and Overseas voters will request an absentee ballot directly from the Secretary of State, Division of Elections. You can make a telephone request for your own ballot, which will be mailed to the address you provide to the clerk. You can request your own ballot electronically using the Secretary of State’s online absentee ballot request service. The approved online form can be found at the following web site: http://www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl You can make a written request by completing an absentee ballot application. Additionally, you can obtain a ballot for an immediate family member in this same way. A ballot will be mailed to the voter directly or to an immediate family member making the request. Your municipal clerk can tell you who is considered an immediate family member under the law. NOTE: Ballots obtained by the voter or an immediate family member do not require witnesses, unless the voter receives assistance from another person in reading or marking the ballot.
Applications are available starting 3 months before the election from the municipal clerk or online at: http://www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl
Follow this link to locate your municipal clerk Can I vote by absentee ballot in person somewhere?
Yes. You may vote absentee at the clerk's office as soon as absentee ballots are available. Absentee ballots are available at least 30 days before the election at the municipal clerk's office. You don't need to complete an application if you vote in person at the clerk's office. The deadline for absentee voting in the presence of the clerk, unless special circumstances exist, is the Thursday before the election.
When must my voted ballot be returned to my municipal clerk?
To be counted, voted absentee ballots must be received by the municipal clerk by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day.
Are there any other ways to receive an absentee ballot?
You may make a written request for a "third person" (someone other than the voter or the voter's immediate family member) to obtain and hand-deliver an absentee ballot.
You must designate, in a written request or application, the specific third person who will handle and deliver the ballot. Only this designated third person may handle the absentee ballot. Ballots cast in this way must be witnessed by either a notary public, a municipal clerk, a clerk of courts, or 2 other witnesses.
What if I still have questions? For more information please contact:
Office of the Secretary of State Division of Elections 101 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333-0101 (207) 624-7650 cec.elections@maine.gov www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/
COVID-19 Micro-Enterprise Grant Program
Maine’s Department of Economic & Community Development, in partnership with the Maine Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) will provide grants of up to $5,000 for businesses with five or fewer employees, with an owner whose income is in the low to moderate range as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Eligibility criteria include:
- Must be a Maine business
- Must demonstrate a revenue loss as a direct consequence of COVID-19. Funds cannot duplicate those received from other federal, state or local programs (including other CDBG funds).
- Must have five or fewer employees including the owner(s)
- Must have a DUNS Number, which can be obtained here.
- Owner's household income must be low/moderate as defined by HUD as verified by 2019 tax return. More details here.
How to Apply?
Funds are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Business owners must meet with a Maine SBDC business advisor to determine eligibility and submit an application. Learn more here.
Five New "Swab and Send" COVID-19 Testing Sites Opening
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and MaineHealth recently announced the launch of five new "swab and send" COVID-19 testing sites, further expanding access to reliable and timely testing for Maine people and visitors.
The new MaineHealth sites in Damariscotta, Rockport, Brunswick, Norway, and Farmington will open this week. These sites, in addition to the 22 previously announced, bring the statewide total of swab and send locations to 27, ensuring that approximately 90 percent of residents can now get tested within 30 minutes of their home.
The sites will send samples to the Maine CDC's Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL) for testing and offer specimen collection free of charge to individuals who believe they may have COVID-19 or could have been exposed to the virus, with or without symptoms, as defined under the DHHS Standing Order.
The MaineHealth sites will operate as drive-through testing facilities. The Brunswick site, at Mid Coast-Parkview Health, will open on Monday, followed by the other four sites throughout next week. Appointments are required and may be made by phone. More information is available on MaineHealth's website.
DHHS also announced that a mobile testing site operated by Promerica Health, first announced on July 14, will initially launch at the Maine Visitor Information Center in Kittery on Tuesday, August 25. Promerica will begin accepting appointments beginning this evening at covidtestforme.com. It will operate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, and from noon to 7 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays through the end of August, with similar hours in September.
These 27 sites complement the roughly 40 current testing sites already available to the public. For a list of sites providing tests under the DHHS Standing Order, which includes all swab and send sites, visit the Keep Maine Healthy website.
Some of the organizations operating swab and send sites, as well as other organizations, are offering testing to their patients at additional sites as well. For a complete and frequently updated list of COVID-19 testing sites in Maine, visit Get-Tested-COVID19.org.
The 27 DHHS-sponsored swab and send sites are:
Augusta: MaineGeneral Bangor: Northern Light Bar Harbor: MDI Hospital (currently operational for frontline workforce testing for participating businesses) Belfast: Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) Blue Hill: Northern Light Brewer: PCHC Brunswick: MaineHealth (operational on August 24) Calais: Calais Regional Hospital Damariscotta: MaineHealth (operational on August 26) Dover-Foxcroft: Northern Light Ellsworth: Northern Light Farmington: MaineHealth (operational on August 27 ) Fort Kent: Northern Maine Medical Center Greenville: Northern Light Kittery: Promerica Health (mobile, operational on August 25) Lincoln: Penobscot Valley Hospital Norway: MaineHealth (operational on August 25 ) Old Town: PCHC Portland: Northern Light Pittsfield: Northern Light Presque Isle: Northern Light Rockport: MaineHealth (operational on August 27 ) Sanford: York County Community Action Corp./Nasson Health Care Skowhegan: Redington-Fairview General Hospital (operational in mid-September) South Portland: Northern Light (mobile) Waterville: Northern Light Westbrook: City of Westbrook
The Department is also separately supporting York Hospital in its drive-through point-of-care testing site which has been open since July 1, 2020.
Energy Transmission Project Question Will Not Go To Voters, Per Court Ruling
Link to Court Order: Avangrid V. Secretary of State 082120: https://www.maine.gov/sos/news/2020/AvangridvSec%20of%20StateOrder.082120.pdf
The citizens'-initiated Resolve "To Reject the New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission Project" will not appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The Maine Superior Court has issued its declaratory judgment that this citizens initiative fails to meet the constitutional requirements for inclusion on the ballot because it exceeds the scope of the legislative powers conferred by ... the Constitution.
The declaratory judgment follows the Maine Supreme Judicial Courts decision of August 13, 2020, https://www.courts.maine.gov/opinions_orders/supreme/lawcourt/2020/20me109.pdf finding that the transmission project initiative is unconstitutional and cannot be submitted to the electors for popular vote.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the NECEC initiative exceeds the scope of legislative powers granted to the people in the Maine Constitution, as the initiative does not propose legislative action, but rather a reversal of an administrative decision made by a State commission and upheld by the Court on appeal. Therefore, the initiative does not meet the constitutional prerequisite that an initiative be legislative in nature, the court ruled.
Based on this decision and the final declaratory judgment, the Secretary of State will not be including the initiative question on the Nov. 3 ballot, as the court decision supersedes the departments previous finding that petitioners had gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Maine CDC Offers Tips to Avoid Rabies Exposure from Bats
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) urges Maine people to take steps to limit exposure to rabies during the time of year when bats are most active, which extends from August into early September. Maine CDC encourages people to be cautious around bats, enjoy them from a distance, and know what to do following an exposure to a bat.
Bats play an important role in local ecosystems, but they can spread viruses such as rabies, which can be fatal in humans, pets, and livestock. Timely treatment following a rabies exposure is effective in preventing disease in humans. Human rabies cases are rare in the United States, and Maine last reported a human rabies case in 1937. However, the rabies virus is naturally found in Maine wildlife including bats, foxes, raccoons, and skunks. In 2019, bats accounted for 40 percent of the 644 animals submitted to the Maine state lab for rabies testing, with nine bats testing positive for rabies.
The rabies virus spreads when infected mammals bite, and in some cases scratch, other mammals. Contact with an infected mammal's brain tissue or spinal cord can also transmit the virus to humans and pets. The virus is not transmitted in blood, urine, feces, skunk spray, or dried saliva. A rabid animal may show a variety of symptoms or no symptoms at all, so always be cautious around wildlife, including bats, or any animals you do not know.
Bat Exposures
A bat exposure includes bat bites, scratches, or handling a bat without gloves, but may also include awaking to a bat in the bedroom or finding a bat in a room with an unaccompanied child or incapacitated adult. For pets and livestock, this may include holding a bat in their mouths or being in the same area as the bat, such as a living room or barn.
It may be difficult in some situations to tell if a bat exposed a person or domestic animal. Therefore, bat exposures should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and always treated with caution.
Contact your health care provider about any potential exposure. The following steps are recommended if you, someone under your care, or a pet is exposed to a bat.
Trapping and Releasing Bats
- Always attempt to capture the bat if you can safely do so.
- Never handle a bat with your bare hands. Wear thick gloves, if available.
- Put a container over the bat once it lands, then gently slide some cardboard underneath.
- Take care not to damage the bat's head. Damaging the head can invalidate rabies testing.
- Only release the bat outdoors if you are certain no people or pets were exposed.
- If there is any uncertainty, call Maine CDC before releasing the bat.
Submitting Bats for Rabies Testing
- Bats can be tested for rabies at Maine's Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory.
- If a person or pet is exposed to a bat, contact your nearest Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife's (Maine IF&W) Warden Service Dispatch Center. A Game Warden will pick up and deliver the bat to the state lab for rabies testing.
- An epidemiologist will follow up with results on any bat that tests positive.
- Lab results for bats submitted before 9 a.m. are usually available the same day.
Rabies Treatment in Humans
- Rabies treatment is called rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
- Rabies PEP should be administered within 10 days of an exposure.
- In most cases, rabies PEP can wait until lab results come back for the tested animal.
- People exposed to bats should contact their health care providers.
- Health care providers will make the decision to begin or discontinue rabies PEP.
Rabies Management in Pets and Livestock
- If your pets or livestock are exposed to a bat, call your veterinarian.
- Domestic animals exposed to bats may need to be quarantined in order to rule out rabies.
- Keeping your pets up to date on rabies vaccination can reduce quarantine times.
Bat-Proofing Buildings
- If you have ongoing issues with bats, contact a Maine IF&W Regional Wildlife Biologist who can talk to you about your options for removing bats from the building.
Bats and COVID-19
- To date, there are no reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 in North American wildlife, including bats. Mainers are unlikely to get COVID-19 when interacting with bats and other wildlife.
For more information:
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