Candidates and ballot questions
By Caraline Squires | Staff Writer
This Nov. 5 Maine residents will vote for:
United States President
United States Maine Senator.
United States Representative Congressional District 1 and 2 (district depends on the address used for voter registration).
Maine State Senator (district depends on the address used for voter registration).
Maine State Representative (district depends on the address used for voter registration).
To see what will be on your ballot, go to www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote. On this website, you can input the address you used to register to vote to see the questions that will appear on your ballot. Questions vary depending on districts and counties. Some questions, for example, are on the ballot for Kennebec County residents but are not on the ballot for Cumberland County residents, and vice versa. Below are the questions asked when you input 38 College Ave in Gorham:
US President
United States Senator for Maine
United States Representative for Maine Congressional District 1
Maine Question One
Maine Question Two
Maine Question Three
Maine Question Four
Maine Question Five
Maine State Senator for District 30
Maine State Representative for District 108
Cumberland County Register of Probe
Cumberland County Commissioner District 1.
Additionally, on this website, you can see who is running for each position by selecting ‘view race.’ On the ballot for President in Maine are candidates
Kamala Harris (Democrat)
Donald Trump (Republican)
Jill Stein (Green Party)
Chase Oliver (Libertarian)
Cornel West (Justice For All).
You can see each of these candidates’ stances on important issues directly at www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote as well. If you were planning to vote for a candidate who is not listed, you will have the option to write them in.
Maine has a rank-choice voting system for federal elections, meaning that when you vote on Nov. 5 you will be given the option to rank the candidates one through five by preference.
How does rank-choice voting work?
- Voters rank candidates based on preference
- Voter’s number one preferences are tallied
- If one candidate has the majority of votes, that candidate wins
- If no one candidate has the majority of votes, the candidate ranked last by voters is eliminated, and the votes are redistributed to the voter’s next choice.
- This process is repeated until one candidate holds the majority of votes.
You do not have to rank the candidates if you do not wish to, meaning your vote will only count toward the singular candidate you select.
On the ballot for Senators are candidates
Angus King (Independent)
David Allen Costello (Democrat)
Jason S. Cherry (Independent)
Demi Kouzounas (Republican).
You can also see each of these candidates’ stances on important issues directly at www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote.
Earlier in this piece, Maine state questions one through five were listed; let’s discuss what questions one and two will be asking. Questions three through five will be covered next issue.
Question One: Do you want to set a $5,000 limit for giving to political action committees that spend money independently to support or defeat candidates for office?
What it means: Do you want to set a $5,000 contribution limit to Political Action Committees? Political Action Committees, also known as PACs, make independent expenditures for or against a candidate of their choosing. Independent expenditures are political campaigns that clearly argue for the support or defeat of a specific candidate.
Voting yes means you want to set a $5,000 limit on giving to PACs.
Voting no means you do not wish to set a limit.
Controversy: Some say setting a limit would violate PAC’s First Amendment right.
Question Two: Do you favor a bond issue of $25,000,000 to provide funds to be awarded through a competitive process and to leverage matching private and federal funds on at least a one-to-one basis for research and development and commercialization for Maine-based public and private institutions in support of technological innovation in the targeted sectors of life sciences and biomedical technology, environmental and renewable energy technology, information technology, advanced technologies for forestry and agriculture, aquaculture and marine technology, composites and advanced materials and precision manufacturing?
What it means: Do you support a bond issue of $25,000,000 to provide funds to Maine Technology Institute, which will offer grants and loans to public and private businesses and organizations working towards meeting Maine’s science and technology goals, as compared to other states’ infrastructure?
Voting yes means you are for the bond.
Voting no means you do not wish to issue the bond.
Controversy: Some are against the principle of State’s borrowing and spending money.