An Act To Facilitate Voting by Uniformed Service and Overseas Voters ~~)
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1579
Committee: Legal and Veterans Affairs
Sponsors: WILLETTE, GOODALL, MARTIN, PILON, JACKSON
Amends: 21-A MRSA §780, 21-A MRSA §780-A, 21-A MRSA §782

Legislative Document 
No. 1579 
H.P.1117 
House of Representatives, December 22, 2009 
An Act To Facilitate Voting by Uniformed Service and Overseas 
Voters 
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Submitted by the Secretary of State pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
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Received by the Clerk of the House on December 18, 2009. Referred to the Committee on 
Legal and Veterans Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint 
Rule 401. 
Presented by Representative WILLETTE of Presque Isle. 
Cosponsored by Senator GOODALL of Sagadahoc and 
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IvlILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: MARTIN of Eagle Lake, PILON of Saco, Senator: JACKSON of Aroostook. 
Printed on recycled pnpcr 
Be it enacted by the People ofthe State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 21-A MRS A §753-A, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2009, c. 253, §47, is 
further amended to read: 
6. Application by electronic means. A municipal clerk may opt to shall accept 
absentee ballot applications by the electronic means authorized by the Secretary of State. 
At least 120 days before any elS"ction administered by the State, the clerk shall notify the 
Secretary of State of the clerk's intention to accept absentee ballot applications by 
electronic means. The Secretary of State shall post on its publicly accessible website a 
list of municipalities that have opted to accept absentee ballot applications by electronic 
means along with procedures for requesting an absentee ballot by electronic means. The 
Secretary of State shall design or approve the form of the absentee ballot application to be 
submitted by electronic means. 
Ifthe cleric opts to accept abs3n~ee Pallot applications by electronic means, a A voter may 
make an application for the vote; s own ballot by electronic means using the form 
designed or approved by the Sel :etary of State. 
The voter may not designate an 
immediate family member or a 3rd person to deliver the ballot on the voter's behalf. The 
clerk shall verify that it is the voter who is requesting the ballot by confirming the voter's 
residence address and birth date with the information in the voter's record. The clerk 
shall print the electronically submitted application and write "electronic request" on the 
application. 
Sec. 2. 21-A MRS A §753-B, sub-§l, as amended by PL 2007, c. 455, §41, is 
further amended to read: 
1. Application or written request received. Upon receipt of an application; or 
written request or telephone application for an absentee ballot that is accepted pursuant to 
section 753-A, the clerk shall immediately issue an absentee ballot and return envelope 
by mail or in person to the applicant or to the immediate family member or to a 3rd 
person designated in a written application or request made by the voter, except that the 
clerk does not have to issue a ballot by mail to an address outside the municipality for a 
voter '''''hose request 'Nas received on the day before election day or to any voter whose 
request was received on election day after 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday before election day. 
The clerk shall type or write in ink the name and the residence address of the voter in the 
designated section of the return envelope. 
Sec. 3. 21-A MRS A §777-A, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 407, §28, is amended to 
read: 
§777-A. Registration and enrollment 
Uniformed service voters or overseas voters may register or enroll at any time by 
completing a federal or state voter registration application form and filing it with the 
registrar or the Secretary of State in person, by mail or by electronic means authorized by 
the Secretary of State. 
Page I - 124LR2449(OI)-1 
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Sec. 4. 21-A MRS A §778, as amended by PL 2005, c. 453, §§60 and 61, is further 
amended to read: 
§778. Duty of registrar 
On receipt of an application under section 777-A, the registrar or the Secretary of 
State in consultation with the registrar shall register the applicant, unless it appears that 
the applicant is not qualified. 
If the applicant is not qualified, the registrar or the 
Secretary of State shall notify the applicant of the reason for rejection of the application. 
1. Member specially designated. The registrar or the Secretary of State shall 
designate a uniformed service voter in the central voter registration system with the letter 
"S". 
2. Overseas voter specially designated. The registrar or the Secretary of State shall 
designate an overseas voter in the central voter registration system with the letter "0". 
Sec. 5. 21-A MRSA §780, as repealed and replaced by PL 2003, C. 407, §31, is 
amended to read: 
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§780. Absentee ballots; application 
A uniformed service voter or an overseas voter may request an absentee ballot as 
provided in section 753-A or by submitting a federal application or form requesting an 
absentee ballot as provided in section 783. With respect to any election for federal office, 
a clerk or the Secretary of State may not refuse to accept or process any otherwise valid 
voter registration application or absentee ballot application submitted by a uniformed 
service voter or an overseas voter on the grounds that the voter submitted the application 
more than 3 months before the election for which the application will be used. 
An 
application or request for an absentee ballot for a uniformed service voter or overseas 
voter that is accepted pursuant to section 753-A or section 783 remains valid through the 
next 2 regularly scheduled general elections for federal office for 2 years from the date of 
receipt of the application and entitles the voter to receive absentee ballots for all federal 
and state elections during that period. 
Sec. 6. 21-A MRSA §780-A, as enacted by PL 2003, C. 407, §32, is amended to 
read: 
§780-A. Use of blank write-in absentee ballot 
Prior to the time when regular absentee ballots are available, if an applicant requests a 
blank write-in absentee ballot or indicates that it takes more than 6 weeks to receive and 
return mail to the applicant's location, the e4erk Secretary of State shall send a blank 
write-in absentee ballot to the voter or shall transmit the regular absentee ballot by an 
authorized electronic means if the voter has designated that the voter wishes to receive 
that ballot by that means. Once the regular absentee ballots become available, the clerk 
shall issue a regular absentee ballot in response to any request under this section. If the 
clerk has issued a blank write in absentee ballot to a voter before the re2:ular absentee 
ballots become available, the clerk may send a regular absentee ballot to the voter, 
follovling the procedures for issuing a 2nd absentee ballot under section 753 B. 
Sec. 7. 21-A MRS A §781-A, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 407, §34, is amended to 
read: 
§781-A. Absentee ballot application; procedure on receipt 
Upon receipt of an application, or written request or telephone application for an 
absentee ballot that is accepted pursuant to section 753-A or section 783, the clerk or the 
Secretary of State shall immediately issue an absentee ballot and return envelope by m-ai-l 
or in person to the applicant or to the immediate family member or to a 3rd person 
designated in a written application or request made by the voter the authorized means 
designated by the voter in the application. +he If the ballot is to be transmitted to the 
voter by mail, the clerk or the Secretary of State shall type or write in ink the name and 
the residence address of the voter in the designated section of the return envelope. The 
Secretary of State shall provide are' Jrn envelope whieh: that moves free of postage under 
federal law. 
Sec. 8. 21-A MRSA §782, as amended by PL 2003, c. 407, §35, is further 
amended to read: 
§782. Absentee ballots; procedure on retum 
On receipt of a return envelope apparently containing an absentee ballot, the clerk or 
the Secretary of State shall follow the procedures for regular absentee voting under this 
subchapter. 
Sec. 9. 
21-A MRS A §783, as amended by PL 2003, c. 407, §35, is further 
amended to read: 
§783. Authority of Secretary of State 
The Secretary of State may act administratively to facilitate voting by uniformed 
service voters and overseas voters. The Secreta!)' of State and may use federal or other 
facilities available for this purpose. These administrative actions may include, but are not 
Jimited to: 
1. Central issuance of absentee ballots. Issuing absentee ballots to uniformed 
service voters and overseas voters from a central location in order to ensure expedited 
del ivery of absentee ballots; 
2. Central receipt of absentee ballots. Receiving absentee ballots from uniformed 
service voters and overseas voters at a central location in order to ensure that the ballots 
are received by the statutory deadline; 
3. Central counting of absentee ballots. Counting absentee ballots from uniformed 
service voters and overseas voters at a central location and including the count of these 
votes in the statewide tabulation of the vote; 
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4. 
Electronic transmission of absentee ballots. 
Authorizing the electronic 
transmission of absentee ballots to uniformed service voters or overseas voters; and 
5. Electronic receipt of absentee ballots. Authorizing the electronic receipt of 
absentee ballots from uniformed service voters or overseas voters. 
SUMMARY 
This bill allows voters from all municipalities in the State to request absentee ballots 
using the Secretary of State's online absentee ballot request service. The bill also allows 
the Secretary of State to facilitate voting by uniformed service and overseas voters by 
allowing central issuance, receipt and counting of the absentee ballots of these voters and 
electronic transmission of absentee ballots to and receipt of absentee ballots from these 
voters. 
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