People wait in a long line at Portland City Hall on the final day of early voting last week. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

More than 360,000 Mainers cast absentee ballots before Election Day, far more than the number cast two years ago and a sign the state could see a historic turnout.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, 388,025 absentee ballots had been requested statewide and 361,924 had been returned and accepted, according to data from the Maine Department of the Secretary of State.

This means that nearly four in 10 registered active voters in Maine already have cast ballots, based on the 955,285 registered voters in the state, according to June data from the department that doesn’t include the surge in new voter registrations that have occurred in four months since then.

Maine had the highest voter turnout in the country in 2022, and election officials have said they expect another robust day of voting on Tuesday.

Just under 237,000 people cast absentee ballots in Maine two years ago, representing about 26% of active registered voters. Overall turnout in 2022 was 61.8% of the population of citizens of voting age and 73.3% of active registered voters, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Statewide, Democrats have shown the highest interest in absentee ballots this fall, which follows patterns established in recent election cycles. Maine also has slightly more registered Democrats than Republicans and unenrolled voters, with about 36% of voters registered as Democrats, compared to 30% Republicans and 29% unenrolled.

About 42% of absentee ballots requests statewide during this election cycle came from Democrats, 27% from Republicans and 27% from unenrolled voters, according to data from the secretary of state’s office.

In the 1st Congressional District, Democrats made up nearly half of all absentee ballot requests while the party breakdown was much more evenly split in the 2nd District, where Democrats requested 36% of absentee ballots and Republicans requested 33%.

Donald Trump and his campaign have been urging voters to cast their ballots early, even as the Republican nominee has criticized the option and sowed unfounded doubts about potential fraud.

Trump won one of Maine’s electoral votes in both 2016 and 2020 after winning the 2nd District and is likely to split off one of Maine’s four electoral votes again with a victory in the 2nd District.

Voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return absentee ballots to town and city clerks.