Town officials report heavy participation as voters seek to have their say
Drawn by the race for governor and an attempt to outlaw the way Mainers hunt for bears, town officials working polling places throughout the region said the turnout for Tuesday’s vote reached levels typically reserved for presidential elections.
Additional Images
“There’s something for everybody,” Monmouth Town Manager Curtis Lunt said while preparing a large stack of absentee ballots to insert into the voting machines. “If you’re not interested in this election, you’ve probably been living under a rock.”
Those issues included bond questions representing millions of dollars in potential borrowing, races for U.S. House and Senate, as well as a bevy of contests for state senate and representative seats, but the two issues spurring many people to hit the polls was the three-way race for governor and a referendum that would ban baiting, trapping and the use of dogs to hunt bears.
“I think the big thing is the governor’s race and the bear referendum,” said Diane Ouellette, deputy town clerk for Winthrop, where there was a steady stream of voters even into mid-afternoon. Ouellette, who has worked for the town for more than three years, said turnout was better than the 2012 presidential race featuring Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
“We are averaging 200 per hour, which is amazing,” Ouellette said. “This is the biggest turnout we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
Lunt said around 1 p.m. that Monmouth voters were arriving at a pace of 125 per hour, leaving few empty voting booths.
“That’s really a full house all the time, basically,” he said. “Since eight o’clock it’s been non-stop.”
Ouellette said there was a line out the door when voting started at 8 a.m.
“At noon we had a little bit of down time, but it only lasted maybe 20 minutes,” she said. “It’s been unbelievable.”
Lunt estimated that 2,000 people would turn out in Monmouth, which represents about two-thirds of the town’s registered voters. A large number of people signed up Tuesday to vote.
“That’s better, I think, than last time,” Lunt said. “It’s less than the presidential, but more than a normal gubernatorial. It’s been great.”
Monmouth resident Linda Johnston said she was one of those who was drawn to vote by the governor’s race and the bear referendum.
“I was interested in quite a number of different things,” she said. “People are very interested in all these questions, I suspect.”
Henry Laskey, of Winthrop, said he was particularly interested in the U.S. Senate race, which had Republican Sen. Susan Collins facing Democrat Shenna Bellows.
“It’s important for everybody right now that we get the right people in the state and in the Senate to represent us,” he said.
Barbara Snowadzky, of Winthrop, also is concerned about leadership, particularly that displayed by Gov. Paul LePage.
“I think that there’s a groundswell of feeling that we need some changes here in this state, beginning at the top,” she said. “Hopefully that will be the outcome.”
Of course, not everyone shared Snowadzky’s opinion. Kim Smith, of Winthrop, said she was very interested in the bear referendum, but also wanted to influence the race for governor.
“I just felt we should give LePage a second chance,” Smith said. “He’s doing the best he can.”
Doug Savage, of Monmouth, said LePage was a key motivator for voters around the state.
“I believe in LePage,” Savage said. “His word is what it is. You don’t have to agree with everything he says, but his word is what it’s going to be. He isn’t going to change.”
Savage, who also was keenly interested in the bear referendum, ultimately could not support the effort to outlaw current practices, but he does not agree with all of the hunting methods, particularly the use of dogs.
“If they were separated, it would be a lot better,” Savage said. “How are you going to get bears if you aren’t going to bait them? If they separated them, I’d probably be for it.”
In Augusta, turnout was also brisk.
“I do believe it’s a higher voter turnout than I’ve seen in my time here in 11 years,” said Augusta Clerk Barbara Wardwell.
Outside the Ward 3 voting at the Augusta Civic Center, a handful of voters all said it was the governor’s race that brought them out to the polls.
“I just try to utilize my right to vote and put my say into what can happen,” said Amy Paulette.
Ruth Glaeser, deputy clerk in Gardiner, said she thinks the big turnout was partially a result of the bear hunting referendum and the contested races for City Council and mayor in Gardiner.
“It’s like a presidential year, I’d have to say,” Glaeser said.
Mary Maschino, who has worked as an election clerk for the city of Gardiner for 14 years, said this was the first time the city ran out of “I Voted Today” stickers. The poll workers had to start using stickers from previous years, she said.
“I think it’s absolutely vital to vote, and people were very enthusiastic this year,” Maschino said. She said a lot of people asked where the bear hunting referendum was located on the ballot, so she guessed that’s what drew many to the polls.
Greg Couture, chairman of the West Gardiner Board of Selectmen, said the town had around 1,800 voters for the presidential election two years ago, and he expected this year to be close to that.
He thinks the biggest draws were the race for governor and the bear hunting referendum.
People were already lined up to vote when the polls in Randolph opened at 8 a.m., said Town Clerk Lynn Mealey.
“There are a lot of people that feel very passionate about the governor and the bears,” Mealey said.
Carol Meyer of Randolph said she always votes, but this year she wanted to make sure to vote for the race for governor and to vote against the bear hunting referendum.
Meyer said she voted no on the bear referendum because the people she knows who hunt are against it, and she thinks it’s necessary to control the population.
“I’m thinking, what if they come around here?” Meyers said outside the town office in Randolph.
She said the TV ad against the bear referendum showing a woman who was attacked by a bear in Florida was more convincing than the message of the side in favor of the referendum.
At Richmond High School, where poll watchers said late Tuesday afternoon the polls had been busy, Bob Zottoli said he came out to vote because he always tries to vote, but said he was especially motivated by negative campaigning by some candidates. He specifically cited 2nd Congressional District candidate Bruce Poliquin as someone who ran a negative campaign.
“I’m absolutely against all this negative campaigning. It shows their character,” Zottoli said, adding that law changes which relaxed campaign finance laws have allowed too much outside money to influence elections by funding negative ads. “It changed the political landscape. And there is no accountability.”
Staff writers Betty Adams, Keith Edward and Paul Koenig contributed to this report.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.