Only two of Maine’s 16 counties can lay claim to dedicated voter blocs: Aroostook and Cumberland counties boast more registered Democrats than any other party or group of unenrolled voters. In the remaining 14 counties, however, unenrolled voters hold sway.
Statewide, residents who register to vote without declaring affiliation for one party over another account for 37 percent of all voters. Long has it been thus.
On Feb. 2, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap released the registered voter lists for 2010. Of the state’s 978,543 registered voters, 366,821 are unenrolled, which means they do not belong to any one of Maine’s three recognized, organized political parties.
Democrats account for 319,160 registered voters, Republicans 260,108, and Green Independents claim 32,454 voters.
The three parties gained just 15,271 voters between 2008 and 2010, while unenrolled ranks swelled by 20,446. Statewide, 35,717 additional people registered to vote between 2008 and 2010 — and the majority checked unenrolled as their political status.
Faced with the largest pool of gubernatorial candidates in recent memory, leaders of Maine’s three political parties believe it’s easier to bend the ear — and leanings — of most voters for any given election than to encourage registration for a specific party as November’s general election nears.
The three parties gained just 15,271 voters between 2008 and 2010, while unenrolled ranks swelled by 20,446. Statewide, 35,717 additional people registered to vote between 2008 and 2010 — and the majority checked unenrolled as their political status.
Faced with the largest pool of gubernatorial candidates in recent memory, leaders of Maine’s three political parties believe it’s easier to bend the ear — and leanings — of most voters for any given election than to encourage registration for a specific party as November’s general election nears.
Read more HERE at The Times Record
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