voting

Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Maine's $5,000 cap on donations to super PACs was unconstitutional. But the groups behind the law say the U.S. Supreme Court has never decided this specific issue.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has joined her elections counterparts from multiple other states who say they don't plan to comply with DOJ requests for personal data on voters

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said an investigation by her office found that 11 of the names portrayed as being the same person were, in fact, different people. Nineteen people were recorded by their municipalities as voting twice, but actually voted just once.

Five voters sued Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows in May, accusing her of writing a deliberately confusing ballot question.

Maine's secretary of state declined to say whether Maine will get involved in any court battles challenging the executive order but noted that individual states have broad discretion to set their own election laws.

The audit will focus on six legislative races from last year that were within a 5% margin of victory.

Maine traditionally has among the highest voter participation rates in the nation. But the heightened political tensions nationwide have also raised concerns about disruption at the polls.

The report from Colby College also finds generational gaps in civic engagement.

The number of absentee ballots requested so far this election has already topped the total from two years ago when Maine had a hotly contested gubernatorial contest.

About 10% of active registered voters in Maine had already requested an absentee ballot as of late last week.