An Act To Expand the Application Period for Absentee Ballot Requests and Allow Early Processing of Absentee Ballots
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1164
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
Sponsors: BAILEY, BERRY, CRAFTS, GERE, HASENFUS, LOOKNER, O'NEIL, OSHER, SHEEHAN
Amends: 21-A MRSA §753-B, 21-A MRSA §760-B, 21-A MRSA §781-A

Legislative Document
No. 1164
H.P. 842
House of Representatives, March 22, 2021
An Act To Expand the Application Period for Absentee Ballot 
Requests and Allow Early Processing of Absentee Ballots
Received by the Clerk of the House on March 18, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Veterans and Legal Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint 
Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative BAILEY of Gorham.
Cosponsored by Representatives: BERRY of Bowdoinham, CRAFTS of Newcastle, GERE of 
Kennebunkport, HASENFUS of Readfield, LOOKNER of Portland, O'NEIL of Saco, OSHER 
of Orono, SHEEHAN of Biddeford.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  21-A MRSA §753-B, sub-§2, ¶B, as amended by PL 2011, c. 534, §17, is 
further amended to read:
B.  To an immediate family member or to a 3rd person if the absentee ballot was 
requested by telephone or by electronic means; or
Sec. 2.  21-A MRSA §753-B, sub-§2, ¶C, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 399, §23, is 
amended to read:
C.  To a 3rd person who already has been issued 5 absentee ballots for voters in the 
municipality, until the 3rd person has returned one of those ballots; or.
Sec. 3.  21-A MRSA §753-B, sub-§2, ¶D, as amended by PL 2011, c. 534, §18, is 
repealed.
Sec. 4.  21-A MRSA §760-B, first ¶, as amended by PL 2019, c. 371, §37, is further 
amended to read:
Any municipality or jurisdiction that conducts its own elections may opt to process 
absentee ballots beginning on the 4th 7th day immediately prior to election day.  The clerk 
shall use the following procedure when processing the absentee ballots during this time.
Sec. 5.  21-A MRSA §781-A, as amended by PL 2019, c. 636, §18, is further 
amended to read:
§781-A.  Absentee ballot application; procedure on receipt
Notwithstanding the absentee ballot application deadline in section 753‑B, subsection 
2, paragraph D, upon Upon receipt of an application or written request for an absentee 
ballot prior to 5 p.m. on the day before election day from a uniformed service voter or 
overseas voter 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 the 
authorized means designated by the voter in the application.  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 a return envelope that moves free of postage 
under federal law.
SUMMARY
This bill removes the prohibition against a municipal clerk's issuing an absentee ballot 
to any voter or immediate family member or 3rd person designated by the voter whose 
application or written request for an absentee ballot is received in the municipal office after 
the 3rd business day before election day.  It also allows a municipality or jurisdiction that 
conducts its own elections to opt to process absentee ballots beginning on the 7th day 
immediately prior to election day, not the 4th day immediately prior to election day, as in 
current law.