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November can't get here fast enough.

Governor issues executive order to facilitate voting in November

Local clerks say the order will help, but predict voting and tabulating results will be challenging.

To facilitate voting, Governor Janet Mills issued an executive order on Thursday, Aug. 27, that gives municipal clerks more time to process absentee ballots ahead of the election, imposes coronavirus-related capacity restrictions on polling places, allows Maine residents an additional six days to register to vote by mail and extends the window for casting an in-person absentee ballot prior to the Nov. 3 elections.

The executive order’s provisions:

• Give Maine residents until Oct. 19, rather than Oct. 13, to register to vote by mail or by third-person. In-person registration will still be allowed on Election Day.

Allow local election officials to begin counting absentee ballots seven days before the election, up from the four days now allowed under law.

• Provide an extra day for voters to cast absentee ballots in person at their polling place prior to Nov. 3.

• Place a limit of 50 people inside a single polling place at any given time or “such lesser number as allows sufficient space to meet the six-foot physical distancing requirement between persons.”

• Require signage and ground lines marking six-foot distances between those standing in line to vote, including outside of the polling place.

• Suspend the requirement that polling places provide at least one voting booth for every 200 registered voters if it would lead to crowding or booths spaced less than six feet apart.

Mills also authorized Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap to implement the order with guidance from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/09/03/governor-issues-executive-order-to-facilitate-voting-in-november/