Action 189 VOTING 2026
Background: There is nothing in the Maine political world more important than this year’s votes, in June and November. All the efforts we have been making to rescue the sinking ship of state will be either accomplished, or severely hampered if not nullified, by the result of those votes.
Everyone’s time and energy are limited, so it’s important to focus. We can drive ourselves batty responding to every outrage that comes to us in our daily news feeds, or we can acknowledge the outrages while focusing on this year’s primary goal: to nominate and then elect patriotic Americans who will change course, back to the principles and aspirations on which the nation was founded. We have a representative form of government. OUR job is to make sure our representatives are the best ones.
It’s not sufficient just to donate money, although that is important. You have to volunteer as an active participant in their campaign. You have to door-to-door canvass for them, write letters to the editor supporting them, wear their buttons and other merch, put up their road signs, make additional homemade road signs, put a bumper sticker on your car, host a house party, speak out in favor of them whenever you have a chance, and help them understand the issues that are important to you (i.e. help them develop their policies). If you are doing all this, you are doing the work necessary. If you have not yet started, please get busy!
The Democratic Party is not supposed to endorse specific candidates until after the primary. Unfortunately, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the party has a habit of putting its thumb on the scale in favor of incumbents and other cronies. If you want to change this dynamic, research and support the other candidates. However, after the primary, be prepared to be fully on board with the nominees, because whoever they are, they are a better choice than any person who is still a member of the Republican party. Its leadership holds views antithetical to our principles, and the party rank-and-file is either ignorant, spineless, or complicit. In good conscience you cannot vote for, or promote, anyone who is still a Republican, to any office whatsoever.
Action: Pick your candidates and make it a top priority to get them elected! Or run yourself.
Urgency: Do your homework NOW and volunteer for someone by the end of January.
Extra Credit:
Understand Ranked Choice voting. It will be used in the June primaries for US Senate, US Congress, Governor, State Senate and State Representative, and also in the November election for US Senate and US Congress if there are three or more qualified candidates. On election night, municipal officials count only the first-choice selections for each ranked-choice voting contest. If no candidate received more than 50% of the first-choice votes, the memory devices containing the results (for tabulator municipalities) and the paper ballots (for hand-count municipalities) are delivered to the Secretary of State in Augusta for a central ranked-choice voting tabulation. Results from all memory devices and scanned paper ballots are uploaded into one database. The cast vote records are extracted and then processed through the ranked-choice voting software to produce final results.
Running for office. Collecting valid signatures is an excellent way to start promoting your favored candidate – which could even be you!. To be on the ballot in June, a signed petition must be received by the Secretary of State no later than March 16. The required minimum numbers of valid signatures for PARTY candidates are: 2000 for Governor or US Senator, 1000 for US Representative, 150 for county officers, 50 for County Commissioner, and 25 for state legislators. The signers must be registered to vote in the party for which the candidate is seeking nomination. The numbers of signatures required for NON-PARTY candidates are double these figures. The rules are spelled out in the State of Maine 2026 Candidate’s Guide to Ballot Access.