This bill makes the following changes to the election laws.
1. It replaces uses of "polling place" in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 21-A with the defined term "voting place."
2. It amends the definition of "closed period" to make it consistent with the statutory provision allowing a voter to register to vote in an election through automatic voter registration within a portion of the closed period.
3. It provides that the digital cast vote record is confidential, except that, in an election determined by ranked-choice voting, the digital cast vote record becomes a public record at the time the Secretary of State completes the tabulation of the vote.
4. It changes the deadline for submitting an online voter registration application from midnight on the 21st day before election day to 5 p.m. on the 21st day before election day.
5. It makes nonsubstantive revisions to Title 21-A, sections 121 and 121-A, relating to voter registration procedures, to improve clarity and readability. It also adjusts the deadlines for the Secretary of State to transfer voter registration applications received from outside agencies, imposing differing deadlines depending on how close to election day the application is received.
6. It requires registrars to treat changes and withdrawals of enrollment as filed on the
15th day before the election if the 15th day before the election is a holiday and the change or withdrawal of enrollment form is filed on the next business day after the holiday.
7. It designates new agencies as outside voter registration agencies, clarifies which programs within those agencies must provide voter registration services and authorizes the Secretary of State to provisionally designate additional agencies as voter registration agencies, subject to the requirement that the Secretary of State submit draft legislation to the Legislature adding the provisionally designated agency to the list of designated agencies.
8. It amends the provision governing use of central voter registration data by clarifying the permitted uses of voter data for purposes of evaluating, monitoring or seeking compliance with certain laws, designating certain types of data as highly sensitive,
42 removing certain prohibitions on transfer or publication of central voter registration data
43 and specifying new civil violations for certain misuses of central voter registration data.
9. It enacts provisions governing treatment of qualifying and qualified political parties that fail to attain or lose qualified status. The provisions allow for immediate disenrollment of voters who enrolled in an unsuccessful qualifying party while allowing established parties that are disqualified to retain their enrolled voters by filing a notice for up to one full election cycle while they seek to enroll additional voters to reach the enrollment threshold necessary for qualified status.
10. It creates a new process allowing a qualified party to voluntarily dissolve by filing a notice with the Secretary of State. It gives this provision retroactive effect to January 1,
2024, allowing the Secretary of State to act on notices of dissolution received after that date.
11. It permits parties to elect to allow unenrolled voters to sign their candidates' primary nomination petitions by filing a notice with the Secretary of State.
12. It requires municipalities to make a municipal officer available to certify names on candidate petitions on the day that primary petitions are due to the Secretary of State.
13. It clarifies that the Secretary of State may not accept a candidate consent form unless it contains the required certification by the registrar of the candidate's enrollment.
14. It clarifies that the Secretary of State must accept party and nonparty candidate petitions if they contain more than the maximum permitted number of valid signatures, but that the Secretary of State may not validate those signatures above the maximum.
15. It provides for direct appeals to the Law Court from a decision by the Secretary of State to validate or invalidate a party or nonparty candidate petition in response to a challenge.
16. It enacts a new provision allowing for substitution of party-nominated presidential electors if a nominated elector dies, withdraws or becomes disqualified before the election.
17. It creates an exception to the requirement of holding a primary election as part of the process to fill a vacancy in the office of representative to Congress if the United States Speaker of the House of Representatives invokes a federal law requiring expedited election procedures if there are more than 100 vacancies in the United States House of Representatives.
18. It requires a candidate wishing for the candidate's name to appear differently on the ballot than it does on their candidate consent form to notify the Secretary of State no later than 70 days prior to the election.
19. It allows the Secretary of State to prepare neutral instruction materials and posters for posting at the voting place to the extent the Secretary of State determines them to be necessary to assist voters.
20. It repeals requirements that the Secretary of State produce and disseminate a guide to election law and conduct a training program for new municipal clerks.
21. It repeals the requirement that the Secretary of State implement a system for collecting and logging concerns from members of the public regarding the conduct of elections.
22. It requires a municipal clerk to post or have posted a notice of election, attested by the clerk, in a conspicuous public place in a municipality at least 21 days immediately before election day and at each voting place in the municipality on election day.
23. It changes the deadlines from 60 days before the election to 90 days before the election for a municipality to request approval of a new voting place and for a party to file a complaint concerning the size of an existing voting place.
24. It clarifies that the restrictions on certain advertising at the voting place and on public property within 250 feet of the entrance of the voting place on election day include apparel.
25. It clarifies that wardens may limit or disallow signature gathering at the voting place as may be necessary to prevent violations of the ban on certain political activities at the polls.
26. It prohibits any person other than an authorized municipal official to distribute or collect voter registration applications inside the voting place or on public property within
250 feet of the entrance of the voting place on election day.
27. It consolidates into one new section several existing provisions regulating activities at the voting place on election day, including pollwatching, signature gathering, charitable activities and election observing.
28. It clarifies that a declared write-in candidate for President must file consent forms for each of the presidential electors with the Secretary of State no later than 5 p.m. on the
70th day before the election.
29. It changes the deadline by which municipal clerks must make absentee ballot applications available for primary elections from 3 months before the election to 2 months before the election.
30. It amends the provision identifying the facilities subject to in-facility absentee voting to include mental health residential facilities, residential facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities and state mental health institutes.
31. It allows municipalities that receive multiple requests for public inspection of absentee ballots before processing, either on election day or in the 7 days before election day, to reasonably limit the time and manner of public inspection and give priority to authorized representatives of parties and candidates.
32. It clarifies that a vote for a write-in candidate for President is attributable to that candidate's designated presidential electors.
33. It makes various changes to the provisions governing the electoral college to conform to the federal Electoral Count Reform Act. It clarifies that the Governor must issue the certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors no later than 6 days before the meeting of electors. It also provides, in accordance with the Electoral Count Reform Act, that the meeting of electors must happen on the Tuesday after the 2nd Wednesday in December following their election. It specifies that the certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors must contain a security feature selected by the Secretary of State in addition to the state seal.
34. It eliminates language governing the use of electronic tabulators providing for secrecy envelopes for ballots.
35. It changes the format and updates certain language of the provision governing closing of voting places that use electronic tabulators.
36. It provides that test ballots used to test electronic tabulating equipment must be marked in red ink rather than blue or black ink.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 1977, SP 773: 21-A.1, 21-A.121, 21-A.122, 21-A.129, 21-A.181, 21-A.196, 21-A.303, 21-A.306, 21-A.335, 21-A.337, 21-A.356, 21-A.363, 21-A.601, 21-A.610, 21-A.621, 21-A.627, 21-A.629, 21-A.662, 21-A.681, 21-A.682, 21-A.722, 21-A.753, 21-A.759, 21-A.760, 21-A.801, 21-A.803, 21-A.804, 21-A.805, 21-A.812, 21-A.852, 21-A.854