Options for voting available for 2020 election

Windham Deputy Town Clerk Pam Cleaves, left,
and Windham Town Clerk Linda Morrell show
a new secure dropbox for absentee voters
near the front door of the Windham Town Hall.
The dropbox was installed in April as a convenient
way for voters to file their absentee ballots
during the COVID-19 crisis.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

By Matt Pascarella

COVID-19 has complicated a lot in 2020. The presidential election is right around the corner and may have some asking “how can I vote in a safe manner, both for myself and so that my vote gets counted?”

There will be no online voting in Windham or Raymond, but there will be in-person voting for Windham and Raymond residents. If you would rather not vote in-person, you can vote absentee in both towns. Windham absentee ballots will be available late September/early October. Raymond absentee ballots will be available the first week of October.

In Windham, if you are not registered to vote you can stop by Windham Town Hall anytime between now and Election Day, Nov. 3.

If you’d like to vote absentee, registered voters can call 892-1900 and their ballots will be mailed to them. Voters can also stop by the Windham Town Hall and fill out an application and take your ballot home or vote in Town Hall once ballots become available.

You can also fill out an online request at www.windhammaine.us. There is a ballot drop box outside of Town Hall.

If you like to go to the polls on Election Day, voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Windham High School.

 Voters need to be aware of limitations because of COVID-19. Social distance markers will be in place. They are only allowed to have 50 people in the gym at one time and that includes election workers.

“If we have a lot of voters go to the polls, they will have quite a wait,” said Windham Town Clerk Linda Morrell.

In Raymond, if you haven’t registered to vote, you may do so by mail by Oct. 13. You may also register in person anytime right up until Election Day at Raymond Town Hall. 

In person voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Jordan Small Middle School gym. It is requested that masks be worn and there will be signage to maintain social distancing. Raymond will also be following safety guidelines, so if you plan to vote in person, you should also be prepared to wait.

If you would like to vote absentee, you may request a ballot online at www.raymondmaine.org, by mail, by phone (655-4742 ext. 124) or in person, at Raymond Town Hall, once ballots become available.
If you have concerns about your ballot not being counted in time, Raymond Town Clerk, Sue Look, said absentee voters should request their ballots early enough for them to be returned on time.

To eliminate time for delivery, Look said voters can bring their ballots to the town office or drop them in the drop box outside Raymond Town Hall.

In both Windham and Raymond, ballost will be processed through a voting machine as long as it is received by 8 p.m. on Election Day. All ballots are counted by ballot machines. The only ballots that are hand counted are the ones the machine could not read for some reason.

As long as your ballot makes it in by the 8 p.m. deadline, every effort is made to make sure your vote is counted. In both Windham and Raymond, these processes are done by election clerks from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

If you’re interested in volunteering to help during the 2020 Election, in Windham contact Town Clerk Linda Morrell at 892-1900. In Raymond, contact Town Clerk Sue Look at 655-4742 ext. 124. <

Voters approve RSU 14 school budget, establish candidate field for general election

Judy Vance, Windham's Registrar of Voters and Deputy Town
Clerk, reviews voter rolls during the Maine State Primary election
conducted at the Windham High School Gymnasium on Tuesday.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE

By Ed Pierce

In-person turnout was light for the Maine State Primary in both Windham and Raymond, but nevertheless, important and significant issues were decided at the polls by voters Tuesday.  

Linda Morell, Windham Town Clerk, oversaw voting in Windham’s District 24 and District 25 at Windham High School and the counting of absentee ballots, which saw a record number requested this election cycle because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Morell said that during a typical election, about 500 absentee ballots are requested from the town’s Registrar of Voters, but more than 2,700 voters chose to vote by the absentee option this time. Storms and heavy rain in the area may have also kept some voters away from the polling place Tuesday.

“Voting has been light here at Windham High School, but we always strive to handle each election with the utmost integrity for all voters,” Morrell said.

Both Morrell and Raymond Town Clerk Sue Look spent weeks leading up to the primary making sure that voting machines were operational and that every voter that requested an absentee ballot received one in a timely fashion.     

 

On the Raymond ballot, incumbent Select Board members Samuel Gifford and Lawrence A. Taylor III ran unopposed for reelection Tuesday for the three-year terms. Gilford received 799 votes and Taylor tallied 757 votes.

Voters in Raymond also were asked to select individuals by write-in for two different three-year seats on the town’s Budget-Finance Committee. Two incumbent serving on that board, Dana Desjardins and Crystal Rogers did not choose to run for reelection and no other candidates filed at the deadline to run for those positions.

Look said that Joe Bruno, who already is a member of the Budget-Finance Committee, received the highest number of write-in votes with six. Kaela Gonzalez, who is already a town employee received four write-in votes.

According to Look, Laurie Forbes and Leigh Walker also tied with Gonzalez for four write-in votes and they will each by asked by the town if they are interested in serving on this committee.

Raymond voters also approved the Town Meeting Warrant articles which included the town’s 2020-2021 $5 million proposed budget and they also approved RSU 14’s $50.8 million proposed budget, with $10.73 million of that amount to be paid by taxpayers in Raymond.

All voting in Raymond was conducted at the Jordan Small Middle School gymnasium with polls remaining open there from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Windham voters resoundingly approved the RSU 14 school budget by a margin of 2,496 to 1,120.

The proposed $15 million bond to invest in high-speed internet was OK’d by Windham voters, 2,729 to 968. That bond proposal also was approved statewide by Maine voters by a margin of 75 percent to 25 percent opposed.

RSU 14’s Adult Education funding was approved, 2,441 to 1,216, as was the district’s School Capital Reserve Fund transfer of unexpended balances, 2,750 to 671.  Voters also granted RSU 14 the authority to issue bonds through the State of Maine’s zero interest rate/loan forgiveness School Renovation Fund Program, with 2,693 voters in favor and 736 opposed.   

"I would like to thank the communities of Raymond and Windham for the support of our staff through the budget process," said RSU 14 Superintendent of Schools Christopher Howell. "This is especially comforting as we plan for the uncertainty of opening schools in the fall."  

The state Transportation Infrastructure Bond issue also was approved by Windham voters with 2,876 voting for the measure and 849 opposed. That followed a statewide trend which saw voters OK the transportation bond by an overall margin of 78 percent to 23 percent.

The transportation bond authorizes $105 million for the improvement of Maine highways and bridges statewide and accompanies $275 million in federal funding for designated projects in the state. 

The primary results also confirmed opponents for November’s general election for state representative in District 24 and District 25.

As a result of voting Tuesday, Windham Democrat incumbent Mark Bryant will face Republican challenger Nicole Deschambault, also of Windham, for the right to represent District 24 as state representative on Nov. 3, while District 25 will feature a race between Republican incumbent Patrick Corey of Windham and Democrat challenger Jane Pringle.

Pringle, a Windham resident, formerly served as a state representative for House District 111 from 2012 to 2014, but the district was redrawn in 2013 by the Maine Legislature.  

In Windham, the U.S. Senate Democratic Primary voting saw Sara Gideon of Freeport receive 1,429 votes, followed by Betsy Sweet with 381 and Bre Kidman picking up 109 votes. Gideon, who is currently serving as the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, won the nomination statewide Tuesday and will face incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins on Nov. 3.

Raymond’s Democratic Senate Primary results mirrored those of voters in Windham with Gideon receiving 397 votes, Sweet 110 votes and Kidman tallying 34 votes.

Democrat Susan Accardi of Raymond received 111 votes Tuesday and now advances to the Nov. 3 general election to face incumbent Republican Susan Austin of Gray for the Maine House District 67 seat, which includes parts of Raymond, Caso and Gray.

Incumbent State Senator Bill Diamond received 528 votes in Raymond on Tuesday and advances to a Nov. 3 showdown for the Maine Senate District 26 seat against Republican Karen Lockwood of Raymond.

State Representative Jessica Fay of Raymond, a Democrat, received 429 votes in Raymond on Tuesday and will now meet Republican challenger Gregory Foster of Raymond for the Maine House District 66 seat in a rematch of the 2016 election. 

Voters in Raymond also elected Anna Keeney with 316 votes to serve a three-year term representing Raymond on the RSU 14 school board. <

Voters head to polls Tuesday in Windham, Raymond

Windham Deputy Town Clerk Pam Cleaves, left, and
Windham Town Clerk Linda Morrell prepare to collect
absentee ballots filed at a new secure dropbox near the
front door of the Windham Town Hall. The dropbox has
been in place since April and was installed as a
convenient way for voters to file their absentee ballots
during the COVID-19 crisis. Morrell and her staff will also
oversee Tuesday's state primary election in Windham.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE 

By Ed Pierce

Casting a ballot during an election is a right that residents of Windham and Raymond do not take for granted and voting has taken on added significance this summer thanks to COVID-19 restrictions in Maine.

With Maine’s Primary vote pushed from its original date of June 9 to Tuesday, July 14 because of coronavirus concerns, a few local positions will be decided at the ballot box and voters also will approve or reject the proposed RSU 14 budget for the coming year.

Windham Town Clerk Linda Morrell has watched many local elections come and go during her 26 years working for the town, with the last 19 spent supervising the counting of votes here.

Morrell will be back at it again on Tuesday, leading a staff of 24 workers working at the polls on Election Day.

“We’ve been doing a lot of training preparing our staff for this,” Morrell said. “We have two districts in Windham, District 24 and District 25, and with this being a primary, some workers will be assigned to work the Democrat District 24 and others the Democrat District 25, and the Republican District 24 and Republican District 25.”

All told, Windham has about 13,350 registered voters, Morrell said, but not all of them will be casting ballots at the Windham High School polling place on Election Day.

“The number of those requesting absentee ballots is up significantly because of COVID-19,” Morrell said. “In the past about a little less than a week away from an election we would typically have about 500 requests to vote absentee. As of this past Tuesday, we’ve had about 2,700 voters request absentee ballots.”

To help voters using absentee ballots submit their votes easily during the COVID-19 crisis, a secure dropbox for absentee ballots was installed outside the front doors to the Windham Town Hall in April. 

Along with the task of verifying and counting thousands of absentee ballots, Morrell and Windham Deputy Town Clerk Pam Cleaves will oversee poll workers working that day helping check in voters at Windham High School.

Morrell said that polls open there at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Poll workers are paid $12 per hour and some will work in shifts. Meals will be served to poll workers and Morrell said a few poll workers will be there the entire day from start to finish.

According to Morrell, her greatest nightmare on Election Day would be for voting machines to fail. If that happens Morrell said a repairman will be standing by to resolve any issues that occur Tuesday.

The best thing about working at the polling place on Election Day for Morrell is simple.

“You get to see a lot of people you don’t normally see otherwise,” she said. “I graduated from Windham High School in 1978 and sometimes I see people I knew in school who are there to vote.”

Morrell said preliminary election results are expected to be announced by 9 or 9 :30 p.m. Tuesday.

“We are going to try and handle this election with the utmost integrity and want all of our voters to have a great experience whether they are voting absentee or at the polls on Election Day,” she said.

Raymond Town Clerk Sue Look was busy preparing for Tuesday’s election and unavailable for comment.

On the Raymond ballot though, there are two open seats for the town’s Board of Selectmen to be filled following Tuesday’s voting.

Also on the ballot in Raymond, incumbent board members Samuel Gifford and Lawrence A. Taylor III are running for reelection unopposed for the three-year terms.

Voters in Raymond also will write-in possible candidates for two different three-year seats on the town’s Budget-Finance Committee. Incumbents serving on that board, Dana Desjardins and Crystal Rogers, did not choose to run for reelection and no other candidates filed at the deadline to run for those positions.

Incumbent Anna Keeney is seeking reelection to a three-year term on the Windham-Raymond Schools Board of Directors.

Raymond residents also will cast ballots to approve or reject the town’s proposed $5 million 2020-2021 budget, and vote to approve or reject  RSU 14’s $50.8 million proposed budget, with $10.73 million of that amount to be paid by taxpayers in Raymond.

All voting in Raymond will be conducted at the Jordan Small Middle School gymnasium, 423 Webbs Mills Road.

Like in Windham, polls in Raymond are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

As far as the ballot goes in Windham, voters will be asked to approve or reject RSU 14’s proposed $50.8 million budget and $626,443 for the annual Adult Education budget, with $23.15 million to be paid by Windham taxpayers.

Windham voters also will approve or reject a $2.6 million zero-interest capital bond referendum loan from the Maine Department of Education to renovate five RSU 14 schools bringing them into state health and safety compliance and funding other district facility improvements.

Windham’s polling place for residents of District 24 and District 25

Is at Windham High School at 406 Gray Road with voting scheduled between 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.<