ME Secretary of State Shenna Bellows Denies Donald Trump Ballot Access for Maine Republican Primary

Information related to Sec. Bellows and ballot access for Donald Trump in Maine can be found here.  Sources are listed chronologically from the released/published date.  Links, when possible, will be archived from the original.  The original web address is located at the top of the archived page.…

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List of Cannabis Bills for 2nd Regular Session of Maine’s 131st Legislature

There are at least 16 different cannabis themed bills up for debate in the upcoming legislative session.  Of the 14 carry-over bills from the 1st regular session, two are proposing changes to the current recreational cannabis taxation formula and another proposes the creation of a Maine Medical Cannabis Commission.

In addition to the bills carried over from the 1st regular session, an additional two have also been approved by the Legislative Council to be included as well.…

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Questions Appearing on the November 7, 2023 Ballot

Maine’s November 7th election will have 8 referendum questions.  One through four are proposed citizen initiatives and five through eight are proposed amendments to Maine’s constitution.

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List of 92 Bills Signed Into Law Since June 26th

According to reports from the Governor’s Newsroom, from June 26th to July 19th, Governor Janet Mills signed 92 bills into law.  Combined with the previous 465 bills signed during this session, the total number of bills signed into law by Governor Mills has reached 554.…

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Proposed Bill Would Increase Governor’s Salary

LD 165 , A bill sponsored by Rep. Bridgeo (D-Augusta), would see the governor’s current $70k salary increase to $125k. The proposed 44% increase would be in addition to the bill’s creation of a $40k annual expense account for the governor as well.…

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Gov. Mills 2023 State of the State Address – FULL TRANSCRIPT

Gov. Janet Mills gave her State of the State Address to the Maine Legislature this past Tuesday.  Rebranded as a “State of the Budget Address”, this was Janet’s third such address to the state’s legislature since first taking office in 2019.  Below is the full transcript of the address.…

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How the Democrat Party Became Maine’s Largest Voter Block & When the Libertarian Party Vanished from the State Roles

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Majority of Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee Support Bill Banning Fireworks in Maine

The Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety voted to move forward with LD 1307, which, as its currently written, would effectively be a full repeal of the 2011-2012 act making consumer fireworks legal in Maine.

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A First Look at LD 1779 – An Act to Protect Election Integrity by Regulating Possession of Ballots and Voting Machine Devices

Sponsored by Representative Pierce of Falmouth and referred to the Committee on Veterans & Legal Affairs, LD 1779 is designed to do 3 separate things. The first two relate to possession of ballots and municipal clerks and has significance that will likely be explored in the future, but its the third thing that caught my attention.

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Work Session for Bill Prohibiting Covid-19 Vax Mandates in Maine Scheduled for January 20th

The Committee on Health and Human Services recently held a public hearing for LD 867, an emergency bill prohibiting mandatory covid-19 vaccinations in the state.  If passed, covid-19 vaccination mandates would be forbidden for 5 years, starting from when the emergency use authorizations were first enacted, to allow for safety testing and investigations into possible reproductive harm.…

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DS 200 Tabulators and The State of Maine

At the End of TMP Podcast #7 – Maine Election Process Part 1, I mentioned 3 documents Id be using for Part 2 and that because it would be some time before Ill pull a show together for Part 2, I would put these up in the meantime for anyone wishing to see them.  They are….

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Democrat Craig Hickman declared winner in March 9th Special Election

The Secretary of State’s office has released the certified results from the Senate District 14 Special Election showing Democrat Craig Hickman as the winner.

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Special Election for State Senate District 14 Scheduled for March 9th

Governor Mills declared a special election for Senate District 14 to be held March 9th.  There are two candidates running for the vacated position; Republican William Guerette and Democrat Craig Hickman.

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Sen. Collins Dodged Instant Run-Off By Less Than 1% and Got Less Than 20% of Maine’s Military Ballots

Despite defeating her main competitor, Democrat Sara Gideon, by 8.5 % in the November 3rd election, Susan Collins avoided an Instant-Run Off by only .4 percent. Her 50.42% majority victory is a far cry from her 2014 re-election bid when she carried 67% percent of the state-wide popular vote and got over 60% of each county’s popular vote.

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130th Maine State Legislature, 1st Regular Session – Current list of Requested Bills to be Proposed

This updated list was released 1-7-21 and is currently the most up-to-date list of Bills requested for proposal during Maine’s upcoming legislative session.  They are listed by subject below.

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Report finds 5 Maine Counties Have Voter Registrations Exceeding Voter-Age Populations

A Judicial Watch report released last month found that Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Hancock, Lincoln and Waldo counties all had voter registrations exceeding their total eligible voter populations. The study compared publicly available voter registration data to the Census’s American Community Survey data from 2014-2018.

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Complete List of Bills Sponsored by Sara Gideon

Sara Gideon is the current Speaker of the Maine House and Democratic candidate for US Senate.  Below is a complete list of every bill she’s sponsored since first elected as Freeport’s representative in 2012.  She’s been re-elected 3 times and has served as House Speaker since 2016.

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Update: RSU 16 Reconfiguration Talks Set Aside For Now, But Board Still Blunders Budget

Approximately 85 community members, made up of teachers, parents & bus drivers packed the PRHS Library for the March 9th School board meeting.

While the subject of school configuration was not listed on the agenda, Board Chair Mary Martin allowed several parents to speak on the matter and express their concerns regarding plans to reconfigure the district’s 3 elementary schools.

During this question and comment period, Martin stated that…

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Residents Upset With Move to Reconfigure District’s 3 Community Elementary schools.

The parents of Maine School District RSU 16 (Poland, Mechanic Falls & Minot), have recently become aware of an administrative plan to eliminate the district’s three community based, preK-6th grade elementary schools in order to reconfigure the grade-span of each building to only include 2 – 3 grades each. 

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Legislative Council Considering Hundreds of Bills for Legislature’s Second Session

Senators and Representatives have submitted a total of 397 bill requests for The Legislative Council’s consideration during the current legislative session.

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