An analysis of Maine’s registered inactive voter data found that, from June 2022 to November 2022, the total number of inactive voters statewide went from 2,562 to 216,035; an increase of over 213k inactive voters, or over 8,000%, within just 5 months.
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(Clarification Correction 8/20/2025)
According to Title 21-A §162-A, when either a municipal registrar or Maine’s Secretary of State’s Office thinks an active voter’s residency has changed, a change of address confirmation notice is sent to their last known address. If there is no response before another election is held, then that active voter is marked inactive.
By the November 2024 general election, two years after the 8,000% spike, those 216k+ inactive voters had slid to be just over 195k; still multitudes higher than anytime before 2022 on record.
Compiled from State Voter Registration Data
Then, from November 2024 to February 2025, that slide became a crash. Within just those 3 months following the general election, over 184k voters were removed from the inactive voter roles; a 99.7% drop of inactive voters statewide. Now, totaling only 534, this most recent voter registration data shows total inactive voters is now the lowest on record. Maine statute Title 21-1 §162-A. Provides two options for how a voter is removed from the inactive voter list.
- Title 21-A §162-A. 2: Change of Voter Status; line 6
- A voter who has been designated as inactive and fails to vote for the next 2 general elections must be canceled in the central voter registration system. If a voter who is designated as inactive votes at any election prior to cancellation in the central voter registration system, the inactive designation of the voter must be changed to active.
So, either two general elections pass without the inactive voter voting in any elections and they’re removed from the voter roles or the voter becomes active again by voting in a local, state or federal election. The latter requires there be a correlating rise in the total number of active voters, and a rise does occur. However, at a little over 4k active voters, not nearly enough to explain the dramatic inactive voter decline immediately following the November 2024 general election.
Compiled from State Voter Registration Data
Even if the time-frame were extended back to June 2024 to account for voters that updated their status, voted early or by absentee but may or may not have had their status updated until after the November 5th election, there would still be over 107k inactive voters unaccounted for.
However, both those scenarios assume that the entire active voter increase includes no newly registered voters and is made up entirely of inactive voters that are now active. If it’s assumed that there were some newly registered voters statewide leading up to the 2024 presidential election, then it should also be assumed that either scenario would be underestimating the total number of unaccounted for inactive voters.
Given the unlikeliness that the near 100% decline of inactive voters was the result of between 100k and 200k inactive voters deciding to vote in the 2024 general election, it seems likely that the rapid decline was the result of two general elections passing from when the 8000% spike occurred. Any inactive voters from that spike that were still marked inactive could now be removed from the voter roles entirely. While a decline of inactive voters following general elections shouldn’t necessarily raise concern, the particulars of the most recent voter roll cleaning does raise questions.
For example, why was the inactive voter increase so sharp going into the November 2022 general election? Why did so many Maine voters suddenly stop voting? How is it that Cumberland County, with over 43k inactive voters in November 2024, gets down to just 207 by February 2025? Why did Androscoggin County go from over 16k inactive voters all the way down to zero during that same time? How can a county even have zero inactive voters?
For example, why was the inactive voter increase so sharp going into the November 2022 general election and why did so many voters suddenly stop voting? How is it that Cumberland County, with over 43k inactive voters in November 2024, gets down to just 207 by February 2025? Why did Androscoggin County go from over 16k inactive voters all the way down to zero during that same time? How can a county even have zero inactive voters?
Perhaps these are the types of questions driving the Trump administration’s voter data request…and why Secretary Bellows is choosing to stonewall them.
–TMP