STATEWIDE (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- City staff in some of Maine's largest cities expect record-breaking voter turnout at the polls on Election Day.
City of Portland spokesperson Jessica Grondin said clerks have issued more than 8,800 absentee ballots, which is more than double than what they saw in 2014. 5,500 have already come back to the city.
Bangor City Clerk Lisa Goodwin said they gauge voter turnout based on absentee ballot requests, and that this year's requests will likely surpass the number from 2010 of more than 6,600. As of Wednesday, Goodwin said they had already handed out more than 5,400.
A post shared by ChrisCostaTV (@chriscostatv) on
"We have a lot of requests for absentees. We know that on election day, there's going to be a large turnout also," said Goodwin.
In Portland, city spokesperson Jessica Grondin said they had issued more than 8,800 as of Wednesday, with more than 5,500 returned and a new batch in the mail coming in to be counted.
"It's about double of what we issued in 2014," said Grondin.
Grondin and Goodwin said these large amounts of absentee ballots can be a good predictor of the number of voters who will hit the polls on November 6.
"They're ready for it and they're certainly looking forward to that day," Grondin said of the election clerks, many of whom underwent special training earlier this week.
"I think we need every single person between the ages of 18 and 30 to make sure that they vote. It is essential and critical that they do it," said voter Oliver Griswold, who said he still planned to vote on Tuesday. "There's sort of a holiday spirit to it."
Voter Jennifer Read said she noticed a new pressure to vote this year.
"I would say so judging by the number of phone calls I've gotten," said Read. "I'd say it's partly because everybody's pretty stirred up."
The METRO system is offering free rides all day on any route to help people get to the polls.
Thursday, November 1 is the last day to request an absentee ballot. Many municipal offices will be open late to take those requests. After that deadline, voters must vote in person at their polling locations on November 6.
You can request an absentee ballot here.
“Interest seems to increase every year," Lewiston city clerk Kathy Montejo said of absentee voting. "People love convenience of it. They love to be able to see it in advance, study it, reread the wording."
Montejo said absentee voting accounts for about one-third of the city's eligible voters each year, but that the number of people voting early does not take away from the number of people voting on Election Day. If anything, it's an indication of what to expect.