Important Information About Absentee Voting

by Sue Cote, Registrar of Voters, City of Sanford

Everything should be ready to begin absentee balloting on or soon after Monday, October 5, contingent on receipt of ballots from the printer.

Our office has already taken more than 2,000 absentee ballot requests from registered voters who have requested them to be mailed. Registered voters may continue to request an absentee ballot, right up until 5:00 p.m. on October 30, the Friday before election day. I plan to order 11,000 absentee ballots, which is more than the number of people who voted in the 2016 presidential election.

I strongly encourage any resident that has moved in the past two or three years to double check their address BEFORE Election Day to avoid a longer wait at a polling place or a delay in your absentee ballot being mailed.

We have made it possible to return ballots several ways:

• sending the ballot by US mail to the City Clerk’s Office, City of Sanford, 919 Main Street, Sanford, ME 04073.
• delivering the ballot in person to Election Staff at City Hall.
• depositing the ballot in a secure drop box to be installed outside City Hall. (At the rear of the building accessible from the parking lot.)
• showing up in person during business hours, requesting a ballot and voting on the spot. (Voters will be directed to the third-floor conference chambers of City Hall Annex, where voting booths will be set up.)

We are expecting a record number of voters to vote absentee this year. We’ve been overwhelmed responding to requests for ballots. In the last presidential election, 2,798 people voted absentee. I’ll probably get that many or more requests by October 5. Social Distancing and 50-person limit at the voting places may also add to more people requesting absentee ballots, especially those who may have difficulty standing for long periods of time. And now, with the increase in positive cases of Covid-19 reported by Maine CDC in York County, it could persuade even more people to vote absentee.

We will be increasing our temporary staffing to assist with absentee voting in October. For the general election day, we will probably need 70-80 volunteers in order to not have everyone work a 16+ hour day. I think we’re in good shape, keeping my fingers crossed. Anyone who would like to volunteer their assistance should contact City Clerk Sue Cote via email: shcote@sanfordmaine.org for more information.

For additional information, please visit our website: https://www.sanfordmaine.org/voterregistration