Portland Press Herald

PORTLAND — The city clerk says her office has ordered an additional 2,000 absentee ballots, with interest in Maine's same-sex marriage referendum apparently motivating residents to vote early.

City Clerk Linda Cohen said Wednesday that the city has already received 2,883 requests for absentee ballots -- a record for an off-year election. She said that, with 600 more requests, she would have run out of the ballots.

Statewide, 25,000 voters have requested absentee ballots, according to the Secretary of State's Office. Portland is the only community that has requested additional ballots.

Question 1 on the state ballot would overturn the new law allowing same-sex couples to get married.

With a new poll showing that only about 5 percent of Maine voters remain undecided on the question, the campaigns on both sides are focusing on getting their supporters to go to the polls Nov. 3 or vote early with absentee ballots.

In flyers, e-mails and phone calls, the campaigns are encouraging supporters to vote with absentee ballots, explaining how the process works and how easy it is.

Voters in some communities, including Portland, can use e-mail to order ballots to be mailed to their homes. Voters in many communities can order ballots over the phone.

Identifying supporters who have already voted lets campaigns focus on those who haven't, said Marc Mutty, chairman for Stand for Marriage Maine, the political action committee that's supporting the repeal of the same-sex marriage law.

"For people working in the campaign, you get one in the bank, so to speak," he said.

Voting early also eliminates bad weather on Election Day as an obstacle, he said.

Mark Sullivan, a spokesman for the No on 1/Protect Maine Equality political action committee, said his campaign is contacting 80,000 people, who in some way have expressed support for gay marriage, to urge them to vote and volunteer.

The campaign's Web site prominently displays a form that people can fill out to request absentee ballots from the Secretary of State's Office.

In Portland, where there are no citywide political races or ballot questions this fall, it's clear that the state ballot is driving voters' interest.

In 2007, the last off-year election, only 128 city residents had requested absentee ballots by this point in the campaign.

The conventional wisdom is that a high turnout in Portland would boost the "no" vote on Question 1 because the city is more liberal than many other Maine communities, Mutty said.

Sullivan disagreed. He said a high turnout is good news no matter where it occurs.

"Informed voters recognize fairness and equality," he said. "The higher turnout benefits the democratic process, and that benefits our side."

Staff Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at tbell@pressherald.com