Clerks foresee problems in budget balloting

Portland Press Herald, April 25, 2008

(excerpt) Portland's city clerk sees a problem looming with absentee balloting for the school budget referendum May 13.

Linda Cohen said Maine's new school consolidation law sets deadlines and imposes other requirements that will create confusion, lead to invalid ballots and prevent some voters from getting their ballots in on time.

She said about 60 Portland voters who are living overseas, including soldiers on duty in Iraq or on other military assignments, will be disenfranchised by unrealistic deadlines.

"These school processes may work in a small town," Cohen said. "They don't work in big communities, and they especially don't work now."

Other clerks in Maine say they're also anticipating problems with the referendums in their communities. They say the new law is at odds with efforts to encourage voter participation.

"Clerks spend all their time trying to enfranchise the voter, and this kind of goes against everything we've been working on for the last few years," said Patty Brochu, the town clerk in Old Town and president of the Maine Town and City Municipal Clerks Association.