AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine voters have set a state record for use of absentee ballots with two weeks still to go before Election Day.
Mainers have successfully returned more than 278,000 of the ballots so far. The number of votes cast so far represents roughly a quarter of the number of registered voters in the state.
Voters in Maine had returned more than 101,000 absentee ballots at this point during the 2016 election cycle. They cast more than 258,000 in total that year.
Concerns about coronavirus are motivating more voters to use absentee ballots. Democrats are utilizing more of the absentee ballots in Maine and elsewhere in the U.S.
Nationally, the number of votes cast by absentee ballot so far this year is equal to more than a quarter of the 2016 turnout, the Bangor Daily News reported. Those data were collected by University of Florida political scientist Michael McDonald.
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