It is definitely the longest day on the political calendar as well as the most anticipated one. Election Day is finally here.

What begins with voters arriving at the polls at 8 a.m. Tuesday usually ends 14 hours later with town clerks calling in the results to the Secretary of State’s office.

And town clerks Michelle Farnham of Boothbay Harbor and Bonnie Lewis of Boothbay will be the first to get an early indication if local voters supported soon-to-be new resident Gov. Paul LePage’s bid for a second term, whether state Sen. Chris Johnson wins his rematch with Les Fossel, and who will replace state Rep. Bruce MacDonald in the state legislature.

Both Farnham and Lewis lead a team of deputy town clerks, ballot clerks and town wardens to make everything runs smoothly.

Visit Election Center 2014

Farnham and Lewis will begin Election Day by arriving at their respective town offices shortly after 7 a.m. to make sure the polls are ready for an onslaught of voters.

Farnham and Lewis are experienced town clerks. Farnham has served since 2002 and Lewis since 2003. While a 12-plus hour work day maybe something most people would consider an ordeal, both clerks look forward to Election Day. They enjoy gubernatorial and presidential elections because of the high voter turnout.

Boothbay Harbor has 1,723 registered voters and Boothbay has 2,522. In 2010, Boothbay had 1,800 voters and Boothbay Harbor had 1,180. Both clerks expected this another large turnout in 2014.

“There’s a larger turnout in a presidential election, but this year has a lot of excitement, too,” Farnham said. “There’s a lot of talk about the governor’s race and bear referendum so I expect to see another large turnout. It’s a long day, but when there is a lot of voters it makes the time go faster.”

The polls close at 8 p.m., which means the local results are typically known around 9:30 p.m. The ballots are fed into the state-owned voting machines for tabulation.

But 2014 isn’t a typical election year. Seven declared write-in candidates require their votes be hand counted.

There are two declared write-in candidates for U.S. Senate, one for governor and U.S. Congress, and three for Lincoln County Register of Probate. Since there is no Register of Probate candidate on the ballot, the clerks expect counting over 1,000  write-in ballots by hand will significantly delay reporting the results.

“Normally we just (put in) the ballots and they’re counted,” Lewis said. “But we have to count the write-ins by hand,” Lewis said. “So I have no idea how long it will take. The ballots have to be counted and recounted. So I’m expecting the Register of Probate write-ins will make it a late night.”

While the town clerks duties primarily fall on Election Day, they’re responsible for enforcing voting laws throughout the year. Early voting began on Oct. 27 and ended on Oct. 30. In Boothbay, 386 voters requested absentee ballots, and in Boothbay Harbor 265 did. Lewis said that early voting requires election workers to play close attention to each absentee ballot. This results in each absentee ballot being handled several times. 

“By the time it’s counted the clerk handles an absentee ballot nine times,” Lewis said. “You provide  the voter with an application, witness the signature, provide them with the financial statement, and list of qualified write-in candidates. You multiply that by 300 requests and that turns out to be a lot of handling.”

The town clerks also oversee same-day voter registrations. While state law prohibits election officials requesting a resident to produce photo identification to vote, someone who registers on Election Day must provide two forms of identification. One form must be a photo I.D., according to state law.

“It depends on the election, but we do get a lot of same day registration voters,” Farnham said. “They need two pieces of identification with one being a photo I.D. A driver’s license can be used. The other piece is usually something like a utility bill requires the resident’s physical address on it. If they don’t produce the proper identification then they don’t vote.”

Both clerks said voter fraud is non-existent in the two towns. There has only been one questionable act in recent memory. And that turned out to be a mistake rather than fraud, according to Lewis.

Lewis said she enjoys Election Day because it brings a lot of people into the town office she doesn’t usually see. But she is looking forward to wrapping up the election.

“I don’t dread it, but I’m glad when it’s over.  I still have to come in the next morning, but on Wednesday night that’s when I crash,” she said.

The polls across the state are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. If the gubernatorial election is a close as 2010’s the Secretary of State’s office doesn’t expect to declare a winner until Wednesday morning.

Return to Election Center 2014