Can you elaborate? I thought ID and/or signature verification were required.
What you’ve described does seem very suspicious.
There is absolutely no documentation required to register to vote. You can register by filling out an affidavit. Basically, scout’s honor. You can give any name you wish, list the homeless shelter or other similar buildings, depending on which ward you want to register in, and then give what you say are the last four digits of your social security number. Translators are available in dozens of languages to assist with this process.
You then walk right over and cast your vote after that, which will be counted later in the evening in most cases, with results announced the next day.
That’s absolutely not enough time to validate any of that information, especially US Citizenship status. US Citizenship is required by Maine law to vote in any Maine election.
You can also present a utility bill as a form of “ID”, again with no citizenship verification. If you want to register by showing them your ID, you can do that, too, but if not, you can just fill out the affidavit.
Once you are a registered voter, you simply walk up to the table, rattle off your name and address, and they check you off the box. Again, no ID is needed. There’s nothing stopping me from, say, voting in my kid’s name unless I’m recognized and challenged by a poll watcher or election official.
If you request an absentee, you will get one automatically every year, even after you’re dead or have moved until someone realizes that and strikes your name from the voter rolls, which may not happen for a while.
It’s the shadiest possible way to conduct elections, especially considering the influx of migrants over the last few years.
I have literally been the only person in line at my polling place that didn’t have a translator last year during the school budget vote, and it was a one-question, yes or no approval of the budget. And we’re supposed to believe that all of those people with translators, and there are often influxes of them at the 11th hour, are all US Citizens who passed the exam in English or became naturalized.
If you say something like “Hey, that seems a little fishy” in public, you will be publicly smeared as a racist. That’s how it works here in The Pine Tree State.
Lewiston’s Mayor just posted today in opposition to voter ID, along with every other moving part of the Maine Democratic political apparatus, including dozens of nonprofits. It is a barely hidden scam.
On top of all that, Bates College actively encourages voting in local elections, and so do most other universities in Maine. They don’t check to see if they’re registered in their home state. Again, scout’s honor system. We actually had a Bates College student on our school committee a few years ago. We presently have an actual Bates College Gender Studies Professor on our school board right now.
In fact, most of Lewiston’s delegation to Augusta is either employed by Bates or Bates alumni.
Our system would literally be the envy of Hitler himself. Instead of having Nazi Party-only elections, he could have let “opposition” run, then just produced enough votes for the Nazis to win anyway.
Grok actually explains our process quite well.
Yes, in Maine, you can register to vote by affidavit without any documentation during same-day or Election Day registration. Maine offers same-day voter registration up to and including Election Day at your polling place or town/city clerk’s office, and while proof of identity and residency is typically required, an affidavit serves as an alternative if you don’t have documents.Key Details:
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Standard Requirements: For in-person registration (including on Election Day), you generally need to show:
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Proof of identity: A photo ID (e.g., driver’s license, passport), non-photo government document (e.g., birth certificate, Social Security card), or a unique identifier (e.g., Maine driver’s license number or last 4 digits of your Social Security number).
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Proof of residency: If your ID doesn’t show your current Maine address, provide something like a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or government document with your name and address.
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Affidavit Option: If you lack these documents, you can still register and vote by signing a sworn affidavit (a legal statement under penalty of perjury) attesting to your identity, age, citizenship, and residency. This allows your registration to proceed without documentation.
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Process on Election Day:
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Go to your polling place.
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Complete a voter registration form.
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Provide ID/residency proof if possible; otherwise, sign the affidavit.
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Cast your ballot (it may be provisional initially but will count once verified).
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Important Notes:
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This applies to first-time voters or those updating registration. Maine’s voter rolls are lifelong unless you move or change details.
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Online/mail registration (due 21/15 days before the election) doesn’t offer an affidavit option—you’ll need documents upfront.
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For questions, contact your local town clerk or the Maine Secretary of State’s Elections Division at 1-888-VOTESME.
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This ensures broad access while maintaining verification standards.
Grok also explains how provisional ballots sail through the system.
Provisional Ballots in Maine ElectionsIn Maine, provisional (or “challenged”) ballots are cast when a voter’s eligibility is questioned—often due to issues like lack of immediate ID proof, residency verification, or registration status. These ballots are initially counted like regular ballots. Challenges are only reviewed and potentially resolved (overturned or upheld) if a recount occurs and the number of challenged ballots could affect the outcome of that race.
maine.gov +2
This process ensures broad voter access while allowing verification only when necessary.Recent Context (2024 General Election)The most recent major election was November 5, 2024 (federal, state, and local races). Based on official reports from the Maine Secretary of State and media coverage:
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No statewide or major-race recounts were requested or conducted that triggered a review of challenged ballots. The deadline for recounts was November 10, 2024.
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The only close race with a recount was a local legislative contest (House District 99), where two ballots were disputed during the recount process. These were resolved by agreement between campaigns, but they were not provisional ballots—they were standard ballots with tally disputes (e.g., overvote or marking issues). No overturns were reported.
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Total challenged/provisional ballots statewide: Not publicly reported in aggregate for 2024, as Maine does not routinely disclose them unless reviewed. Historical data (e.g., 2022) shows low numbers—typically under 0.1% of total votes (fewer than 1,000 statewide)—and most are upheld without challenge.
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Challenged and overturned: 0. No reviews occurred, so no overturns. All provisional ballots cast were counted as-is.
Upcoming 2025 Referendum ElectionThe next election is November 4, 2025 (referendum on voter ID, absentee rules, etc.). Provisional ballots will follow the same process, but if Question 1 passes, future challenged ballots for ID issues would require follow-up ID submission within 4 days—potentially increasing scrutiny.
maine.gov +1
No data yet, as the election hasn’t happened.For specific local races or updates, contact your municipal clerk or the Maine Secretary of State’s Elections Division (207-624-7732 or elections@maine.gov). Detailed 2024 results are available here.
Wow, ok. Yeah, that needs fixed.
There’s lots of places that allow you to vote without documentation, but they verify that the information you do provide — signature, name, address — matches prior documentation. But… Maine just takes you at your word? Wow.
Yeah, it’s pretty wild once you actually understand how it works.
During the school budget vote I mentioned, it was actually round 3 after us locals voted the bloated monstrosity down twice. The Superintendent and City Council President were shuttling migrants to the polls all day to ram it through in round 3.
It’s a pretty easy message for them to understand. Vote the way we say so we can keep the money flowing to you. It really is that simple.
You can also find multi-language voting guides at the polls. I’ll grab one next week when I go to vote on what may be the most important vote in Maine’s history.
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You’d think with 230+ years of voting as Massachusetts then Maine, there’d be a more robust system. I get that things are slow to change, but that’s still more than a few generations. And people have been moving in and out of the state, migrants included, for the entire time.
There’s never been an ID requirement, and that probably mostly worked up through most of the 20th Century, when most of the clerks actually knew most of the voters and people were generally more honest, although I’m sure some shady stuff occurred to abuse it.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that Maine has one of the highest turnouts in the country, at least when a federal election is on the ballot. Our local turnout in Lewiston is abysmal in most local and state-only elections, which makes it easier to get the desired outcome by shuttling migrants to the polls to register and vote through a translator. Here’s the outcome after a hard day’s work shuttling migrants by our Superintendent and Council President during round 3 of the budget vote I mentioned.
That Superintendent just got his contract renewed a couple years early, with a pretty big raise up to a $260k per year salary with very generous benefits. All while overseeing declines in every measurable outcome while working hard to sweep all of the horror stories under the rug.
He’s the guy who made my barber’s beaten daughter ride a separate special bus while her attackers got to stay on the bus because it was “their right to ride the bus". If the races were reversed and a 3 on 1 white on black beatdown occurred, was recorded, and then handled that way, it would have been a national scandal. But it’s just another day in the Dirty Lew, where race-based public policy is now the law of the land. We’re the new deep south of the far north.
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I’m a bit concerned about the SNAP shutdown looming on Saturday. Probably close to half of Lewiston receives it. It also indirectly feeds into our black market economy for drugs.
What happens two weeks after the funds stop flowing? A month? I’m not sure, but we all may find out together.
Chaos anarchy mayhem
We already have enough of that. A building was just ransacked in town a few days ago. Apparently the looters believed that the items were “for the taking” after someone broke in. LPD is asking that the items be returned but I don’t think that’s likely to happen.
If further chaos breaks out, I suppose I can take it as an opportunity to open carry my Colt Python when I’m out and about instead of a concealed Smith 642 or my Sig P365. Or maybe just dust off the Glock 19, which I haven’t carried in over a decade. Or maybe just carry them all. You can open carry long guns in Maine, too.
I should probably dust off the old codpiece, pick up some football pads and start gluing feathers on them, grab some face paint, some metal studs, black spray paint and get to work on my Mad Max outfit.
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@LoRez I just wanted to say thank you for hearing me out on the voting process in Maine. It is hard to believe that it actually works the way it does, and that’s been a source of tension in my family. I rarely brought up politics for most of my adult life, but when my liberal family in other states asks “What’s going on in Lewiston?”, they never like hearing my answers and flat-out don’t believe what I say. I used to be in broad agreement with them, after all, and I guess it is more convenient for them to write me off as someone who has been radicalized. Meanwhile, I’ve been the tolerant liberal the entire time.
My godparents have told me I sound like a Klansmen and my brother and his family think I’m a Nazi. I’ve actually read a pretty decent amount of academic literature on both topics, including the 1920’s version of the Klan. I can confidently say I’m not either of those things, but conveying that in a conversation doesn’t really work the same way it does when you can explain yourself in some level of depth, like you can with writing and posting supporting documentation. Especially when your well-educated family knows nothing about either subject, aside from what you can learn on Wikipedia.
They also don’t read my public writing, which is quite measured compared to my t-nation rants over the last decade.
In a particularly ironic twist, Maine Democrats actually enacted the Maine KKK’s (1920’s version) only political policy priority in the year 2023, when the successfully ended public funding for sectarian schools, contributing to the closure of Lewiston/Auburn’s finest high school, St. Dom’s. It was affordable, by private school standards, and has been pumping out great students for a really long time.
Anyway, it’s nice to hear that I’m not a crazy person. I know I’m not, but when you have people you care about say you are, it kind of sucks.
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Us Catholics are a “bunch of got dang mary worshippers.”
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Sweet! Next time there’s an election @twojarslave I’m coming up to Lewiston to vote! I’ll just fill out that affidavit with my name, I’ll of course use a perfectly random name like Mike Auckhertz, hand it in and hold up my hand in a scout’s honor sign, and proceed to do my civic duty.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. It’s just that no voter ID, along with the fact that you can simply fill out a form with whatever information you wish and they take your word for it, blows my mind!! But, I know, I know, voter ID is racist! How dare the government ask you for your ID to prove you are actually who you say you are. The nerve. And we all know that every minority has so MUCH difficulty in obtaining a valid ID card. Whenever they use that excuse it is not only a weak excuse, but they do not realize how insulting it SHOULD be to minorities “yall are too dumb, too victimized, to be able to figure out how to obtain a legal ID card”
Yet you need ID to buy….cigarettes, alcohol, guns, SUDAFED, and other items, but voting? Nah, there’s nothing important at stake there.
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Here’s the mayor’s curious choice of words about the matter. It makes more sense when you realize that Democratic Socialism as described by the DSA is what guides Maine Democrats. The DSA is very clear in their belief that we’re all citizens of the world and that simply occupying the geography ought to confer voting rights, which our current policy de facto achieves.
If they had a shred of integrity, they would campaign on their real ideas, but they don’t, so they gaslight the public by saying our ridiculous system is “secure”, calling anyone who objects a racist.
“…remain open to all”, indeed.
Wez!
The gaslighting is so off-the charts in Maine. Graham Platner is still packing local venues with his vague socialist promises of a better future, even after the whole Nazi SS tattoo and Socialist Rifle Association posts have surfaced. He represents the mainstream of Maine Democrats, and boy is that dangerous.
Here’s a clip of someone asking about illegal immigrants getting benefits, which results in the crowd shouting “THEY DON’T” at the person and Platner responding by suggesting the person has been a victim of brainwashing, being “robbed of their critical thinking” and “their empathy”.
All you need to do is go on the State of Maine’s website to see that they do, in fact, receive benefits. It’s right here in plain English.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) | Department of Health and Human Services
That same crowd of know-nothings would shout me down the same way if I asked what the mechanism is that prevents a noncitizen from registering and voting in a Maine election.
Pure gaslighting from the rainbow mafia.
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Amazon’s “Tolkien scholars” aren’t going to like this tweet from DHS.
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The highlighted portion of what you posted above @twojarslave is perhaps the biggest problem that arises from ILLEGALLY entering our country; they know that they can immediately have a baby once on U.S. soil and then they immediately will have full access to a plethora of handouts. Many actually enter the country already pregnant for just that reason. So SNAP/food stamps, WIC, welfare, housing assistance, and any other benefit available to “United States citizens”. This is without their mother/parents ever having paid a dime into the government coffers via taxes. Many on the left would have us believe that it’s not that much money/benefits, or it’s not a big deal. Again, when you scale to size that 1 illegal baby, and multiply it by millions and millions, it starts to become a very large amount of money. The rub isn’t the monetary figure by itself, but it’s money spent on illegals, paid for by hard working U.S. citizens (many of whom are struggling to afford to feed/clothe/house their own family), that is not going to actual needy U.S. citizens but rather people who knowingly invaded our country and then hastily popped out a baby in order to grab benefits that were never intended to support them[illegals].
I find it rich the irony that this situation has presented: the very same white liberals who love to virtue signal that they are so supportive of minorities/blacks, women, LGBTQRSTUV people, children, etc. are ALSO protesting and fighting for illegal aliens and their treatment. The same illegals who, as I stated above, are in essence “taking” away welfare benefits for the minorities they claim to be fighting to “save”. So are they really the great white/woke saviors that they claim to be? I think they are so focused on being able to claim how much they support the poor downtrodden “unhoused migrants” that their brains never took a minute to step back and view the whole situation and all of the various ways those same migrants put strain and stress on our U.S. welfare benefits system. Trump is right about the whole situation, the economic, cultural, physical infrastructure strain that the tens of millions of illegal aliens the Biden administration let freely enter our country will continue to negatively affect our country for decades to come.