HOULTON, Maine — Hundreds of voters in Houlton cast their ballots in Tuesday’s state primaries, although many of them did not do so in person.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging throughout the country, many chose to submit their vote via an absentee ballot, instead of showing up at the Houlton Recreation Center, where the in-person voting took place. As of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, more than 300 voters had already submitted absentee ballots, according to Houlton Town Clerk Cathy O’Leary.
“They’ve been really advising people because of COVID to do absentee balloting,” O’Leary said. “People have been great, and been following the advice of the secretary of state,” she added, referring to Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, who along with Gov. Janet Mills strongly advised voters to do absentee balloting in recent days.
The recreation center had also been redone to accommodate social distancing guidelines. Markers had been placed on the ground for voters to stand six feet apart in line, glass panes were installed for registration desks and certain voting booths closed off to keep people spread out.
The July 14 state primaries included elections for Democratic and Republican voters alike in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. For the Democrats, voting was done to determine the senate challenger to incumbent Susan Collins, who has served since 1997, but has recently seen a slide in her approval ratings. The candidates are Sara Gideon, Betsy Sweet and Bre Kidman.
For the Republicans, it was to determine the representative challenger to incumbent Jared Golden, who won the district in 2018 due to Maine’s newly implemented ranked-choice system. The candidates vying to replace him are Dale Crafts, Adrienne Bennet and Eric Brakey.
Charlotte MacArthur, who voted with the Democrats, said she cast her vote for Kidman, who is one of the more progressive candidates, but also expressed doubts about the effectiveness of ranked-choice voting to determine candidates.
“I like to go in and vote, just for that person,” said MacArthur. “But instead I have to rank hers number one, or him number two. It’s like going to school.”
Cliff Barker, a Republican, elected to go with Crafts, a former state representative, as his top choice. But he also said he was not particularly enthusiastic about any of the candidates, who have all shown strong support for President Donald Trump, whose ratings have taken a hit after his handling of the pandemic.
“I’m not that crazy about any of them,” said Barker. “I like Susan Collins, because she’s more independent. But to hell with Trump.”
