Maine
Ballot Security
What Politicians Say
Maine made mostly minor changes to election law since Biden won that make it easier to vote and reduce the potential for trouble counting ballots.
In a high-profile decision, Democratic Governor Janet Mills vetoed a bill that would have barred companies owned by foreign governments from getting involved in ballot measures.
The legislation was inspired by a $10 million lobbying effort by Canadian-owned Hydro-Quebec to defeat referendums that would have ended a project it was involved in.
Ease of Voting
New laws allow Maine residents to register to vote online and use student IDs from private or public colleges in Maine or tribal identification as voter ID and create alternative ways for residents of nursing homes to vote during a public health emergency.
Ballot Security
A 2021 law allows local elections administrators to begin processing mail-in ballots seven days before the election, which can help prevent delays in counting and certifying elections.
Another law bars elections administrators from counting votes from mail-in ballots or releasing any results until they have all been processed after polls close on Election Day.
Those changes would help prevent the swings in vote totals caused when different types of ballots are counted that spurred conspiracy theories after the 2020 election.
Other new laws tightened the rules around how elections administrators handle unused ballots, voting machines and ballot counting machines; and required local elections administrators receive training on how to de-escalate conflicts and report threats and harassment.
How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election
None of Maine’s top officials took any action to overturn the 2020 election.