Maine clerks, MMA team up to recruit election workers 

AUGUSTA – Everyone knows you cannot run elections in Maine without election workers. Yet, in the midst of a public health emergency, as well as during “normal” times, finding people to staff election polls and process absentee ballots is not easy.

To address that, the Maine Town & City Clerks Association and Maine Municipal Association teamed up to build a new website encouraging people to work at town- or city-run election stations and help process absentee ballots, which are expected to be way up in volume this year. The website is live at maineelectionworkers.org/

The website outlines the requirements, duties and responsibilities for election workers, as well as the benefits. Some municipalities pay poll workers; some do not. The website includes a link to scores of municipal clerks throughout the state who are responsible for overseeing elections at the local level.

“We feel this will be a tremendous communication resource for all municipalities, and it could be used for years to come,” said Kathy Montejo, a former president of MTCCA and the clerk for the City of Lewiston. “We are always recruiting citizens to work at the polls. This streamlines and simplifies the information into one central location that can be shared around the state.”

The idea is for Maine municipalities to post a link to the new website on their home pages. MMA estimates that 340 of the state’s 487 municipalities operate websites. MMA has posted a link to the election workers’ website itself (memun.org), as has MTCCA (mtcca.org).

“What a great way to celebrate Maine’s Bicentennial and serve your fellow citizens, by working at your local polling place on July 14 and this November,” said Stephen Gove, executive director at MMA. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn about elections, see your friends and neighbors and potentially earn some money to boot.”