By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — The abundance of absentee ballot requests and the need for those ballots to be secure has put added responsibilities on the shoulders of town employees everywhere.  

Casco Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish explained the process that the staff goes through to check the absentee ballot drop box as required by the state. 

“The drop box for the ballots, we were notified that we were to empty them twice a day,” Gerrish said. “It takes two people to open it. It takes two separate keys. You have to keep a record of who opens it and how many ballots are in it. You have to do it seven days a week, twice a day.”

This requirement has put an extra cost on the town and demanded that staff take time out of their weekend to check lock boxes instead of waiting until Monday.

“That was a whole new process,” Gerrish said.

Casco Town Clerk Penny Bean estimates that town employees have put in “at least 500 hours if not more” on absentee ballots.

It’s no wonder: The number of absentee ballot requests has doubled compared to the last presidential election in 2016. 

In 2016, the number of requests were 621. Out of that, 602 people returned those absentee ballots. Considering that a total of 2,154 Casco residents voted in the 2016 election, more than one-quarter of those were done absentee.   

By Tuesday night, the number of absentee ballot requests for the 2020 election had reached 1,200, Bean said. So far, 960 completed ballots have been returned, she said.

“Approximately 125 people weekly [are doing] absentee voting in person and asking to have ballots mailed. About 50 to 100 [are] being returned with our drop box weekly,” Bean said.  

Many Casco residents have expressed their gratefulness to the clerks.

“If they are voting in person, some comments have ranged from how appreciative they are to have been able to come cast their vote in person and turn it in to a clerk, to how important it is to vote this year and how they will be glad when the commercials are over,” Bean said. 

Raymond Town Clerk Sue Look has been hearing more technical questions from residents in that town. People ask if a stamp is required to put the ballot in the lock box. The answer is no. People say they do not trust the mail and they ask how can they avoidmailing their absentee ballot. Look tells them they can come into the town hall during regular business hours and vote absentee in person. If a person has requested an absentee ballot be mailed to them, they must bring that one in because the town hall cannot issue a second absentee ballot to anyone. 

Lots of people ask if the drop box is secure, and Look assures them that it is.

“It is double locked/keyed, bolted to the concrete, and covered by multiple security cameras,” she said. 

For a while, there were between 25 to 50 absentee ballots being put in the drop box daily, she said. 

“As we get closer [to Election Day] the number being brought directly to our counter is growing and the use of the drop-box is dwindling,” she said. 

In Raymond,as of Friday, Oct. 23, the number of requests for absentee ballots totaled 1,595 and 1,197 had been returned, according to the town clerk.  

That compares to the 2016 presidential election when 935 people applied for absentee ballots and 873 people actually voted absentee. In 2016, the total number of voters was 2,898. Therefore, more than one-fourth and less than one-third of the registered voters in Raymond choose to vote via absentee ballot during the previous presidential election.  

Like everywhere else, the number of absentee-ballot voters in Bridgton has soared. In the Town of Bridgton, the number of absentee ballots that has been returned has already doubled from the presidential election four years ago.

The first weekend, the lock box was put into use, 73 absentee ballots were dropped off.

As of Oct. 22, Bridgton voters had returned 1,313 absentee ballots, according to Bridgton Town Clerk Laurie Chadbourne. Last week, the requests hit 1,641.

Comparatively, in 2016, Bridgton residents requested 658 and returned 632 absentee ballots, Chadbourne said. In that election, 3,027 is the total number of people who voted, she said. 

The 2020 pre-election activity has proven to keep town staff extremely busy. The first weekend the lock box was put in use

“Three full time employees working diligently every day. [It’s] hard to predict the actual number of hours each day as it varies as well,” Chadbourne said. 

The Town of Sebago staff is inundated with work related to absentee ballots. To add to the workload, that town’s tax bills are due on the same day that polling takes place — this upcoming Tuesday. 

“It has been extremely overwhelming for town staff,” according to Sebago Town Clerk Maureen F. Scanlon.

When asked how many staff hours are being spent on absentee ballots this year, Scanlon said, “It’s an incredible amount, too difficult to discern because the daily tasks are constantly interrupted.”

As far as absentee ballots, the numbers are a moving target, she said. 

“More are being issues every day. More are being returned every day,” she said. 

As 5:40 p.m. on Oct. 27, Scanlon said that 525 had been requested and 456 had been returned. 

That is in line with the trend that the absentee ballots usage has doubled from the last presidential election.

In 2016, Sebago voters requested 263 absentee ballots of which 260 were returned. The total voters for that year was 1,132, with about one-quarter (25%) of those votes coming via absentee ballots. 

This year, residents coming in to the Sebago town hall to vote absentee have told staff: Thank you. Good luck on Election Day. Stay safe and healthy, according to Scanlon.

In the Town of Harrison, residents who have stopped into the office to vote absentee have told staff, thanks for being here, according to Harrison Town Clerk Melissa St. John. 

It’s hard to figure out how many hours are spent on absentee ballots, “because ballots get worked into everything else we do,” St. John said. “However, my fill-in person has been working about 30 hours a week for the past three weeks.”

As of Oct. 22, which was last Thursday, there were 749 requests for absentee ballots and 582 returned. The employees were getting about 15 to 25 absentee ballots from the drop box daily, St. John said. However, that number had decreased by the third week of October, she said. 

In 2016, voters returned 366 of the 375 absentee ballots that had been requested. That year, 1,504 Harrison residents did their civic duty, which is quite an impressive voter turnout since there are 1,978 registered voters in town, according to St. John. 

This year, more of those registered voters will be opting for the absentee ballot than in years’ past. 

One thing that is stumping Maine voters is rank choice voting.

“Rank choice voting is still very confusing for many people. We encourage everyone to check out the videos online at the Secretary of State’s website,” St. John said.