Action 8 – write a LTE about voter ID (it’s voter suppression and we don’t need it in Maine!)
Background: Did you even realize that there is a vote this November? It’s hard to find info about it this early, but Ballotpedia has two items on the Maine agenda so far.
https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_2025_ballot_measures
News reports say this November 2025 we will vote on requiring a picture ID at the polls. This concept has been defeated before, because in Maine it’s not necessary, and makes it harder for many people to vote, including the elderly and people with disabilities. Read about it here:
During the most recent primary election, I was an election observer for the League of Women Voters in Searsport, when there was a table outside with a woman collecting signatures for this referendum. She was completely unable to tell me why this measure was needed in Maine.
The Secretary of State and the League of Women Voters believe it’s unnecessary. It is basically designed and intended to suppress the vote. It will result in longer voting lines, so people will leave without voting. Also, there are sneaky provisions in the actual language of the bill that will gum up the works. For instance, disabled and elderly will not be able to have family members pick up and drop off their ballots. Also, instead of having the municipal clerk retrieve the ballots from a drop box, it would require a “bipartisan team of election officials” to do this simple task. And because the number of drop boxes in any municipality would be reduced to only one, retrieval of ballots in the larger cities would probably have to be daily. Who is going to organize and/or pay that “bipartisan team of election officials” to go clean out the boxes daily?
Action: Write letters to the editor on this issue
Because the decision will be made by the voters, we need to persuade the majority of them why this measure is burdensome and unnecessary. Discuss how it will impact you personally.
For instance, do you help an elderly or disabled relative to vote? Do you personally rely on receiving ballots in the mail on a regular basis because it’s difficult to get to your town office during open hours to pick up a ballot? Have you been a poll worker who understands how totally unnecessary this bill is, because in your town every voter is checked off on a spreadsheet so everyone would know if someone was trying to vote illegally? Are you sick and tired of right-wing efforts to make voting difficult? While you are at it, urge people to exercise their rights as citizens and go vote in every election!
Timeframe:
Start following this issue and composing your letter now. Send it any time between now (when the news report has first surfaced) and October. Send it to multiple news outlets – say one per month. Here is a short list of in-state newspapers:
The Ellsworth American
https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/site/forms/online_services/letter_editor/
The Mt. Desert Islander
https://www.mdislander.com/site/forms/online_services/letter_editor/
Penobscot Bay Press
https://penobscotbaypress.com/submit-content/
Bangor Daily News
https://www.bangordailynews.com/submit/
Lewiston Sun Journal
https://www.sunjournal.com/letters-to-the-editor/
Press Herald
https://www.pressherald.com/reader-services/letters-editor/
Maine People’s Alliance
https://mainepeoplesalliance.org/letter
Maine Morning Star
https://mainemorningstar.com/commentary-submission-guidelines/