Tuesday is primary election day in Maine (again) as voters head to the polls to select party nominees for Congress, the Legislature and local offices.

While lawmakers will return to the State House next week to take up the governor’s vetoes, the 131st Legislature has already left its imprint on some of the issues and challenges confronting the state.

Republicans have described the proposal as a late-session ambush designed to catch gun rights groups and the public off guard.

Maine lawmakers are plodding toward a mid-April adjournment with a slew of contentious issues to resolve, including gun safety and a new spending plan. Meanwhile, a divided Congress continues its obsession with the November election in its quest for historically unproductive governance.

By presidential primary standards, this year’s Super Tuesday contests are relatively anti-climactic because the Republican and Democratic tickets are pretty much set at this point. But electors are still at stake in Maine.

Republicans have described the proposal as a late-session ambush designed to catch gun rights groups and the public off guard.

Maine lawmakers are plodding toward a mid-April adjournment with a slew of contentious issues to resolve, including gun safety and a new spending plan. Meanwhile, a divided Congress continues its obsession with the November election in its quest for historically unproductive governance.

Next Tuesday, voters in Maine and more than a dozen other states will cast ballots during the single-largest primary day of the 2024 elections.By presidential primary standards, this year’s Super Tuesday contests are relatively anti-climactic because the Republican and Democratic tickets are pretty much set at this point. Absent some ground-shaking legal or political developments, the nation appears headed for a Biden-Trump rematch this November.But electors are still at stake in Maine. And for the first time this year, thanks to Maine’s switch to a “semi-open” primary, independent voters can join the proverbial party without literally having to join a party.