Welcome to the Wednesday, June 5, Brew.
By: Ethan Sorell
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Lowest number of Maine state legislative retirements since 2016
- Oklahoma voters to decide on citizenship voting requirement in November
- Upcoming voter participation deadlines
Lowest number of Maine state legislative retirements since 2016
Over the past week, we’ve looked at what voters in Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota will see on their primary ballots. Today, we turn our attention to Maine, which is holding its primaries on June 11 along with: Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina.
Maine uses ranked-choice voting to select nominees for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House, and both chambers of the Maine Legislature.
U.S. House
Six candidates are running for Maine’s two U.S. House districts, including two Democrats and four Republicans. That’s an average of 3.0 candidates per district, the same as in 2020. There was an average of 2.5 candidates per district in 2022.
Here are some other highlights from this year’s filings:
- Both incumbents—1st District Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) and 2nd District Rep. Jared Golden (D)—are running for re-election. The last time a U.S. House district in Maine was open was in 2014 when Rep. Mike Michaud (D) ran for governor rather than for re-election in the 2nd District.
- Three candidates—one Democrat and two Republicans—are running in the 1st Congressional District and the 2nd Congressional District, respectively.
- Two primaries–both Republican—are contested this year, tying with 2014 for the most over the last 10 years.
U.S. Senate
Incumbent U.S. Sen. Angus King (I) is running for re-election. One candidate is running in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively: David Costello (D) and Demi Kouzounas (R). King, Costello, and Kouzounas will each advance to the Nov. 5 general election.
Maine Legislature
All 35 seats are up for election in the Maine Senate, and all 151 seats are up for election in the Maine House of Representatives.
- Democrats have a 22-13 majority in the Maine Senate and a 79-68 majority in the Maine House of Representatives, with one Independent, one Independent for Maine Party member, and two vacancies.
Maine has had a Democratic trifecta since 2019 because Democrats control the governorship and both legislative chambers.
Oklahoma voters to decide on citizenship voting requirement in November
Oklahoma voters will join Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, and Wisconsin voters in deciding whether to add language to their respective state constitutions specifying that only U.S. citizens can vote in elections. Republican-controlled legislatures put all six of these measures on the ballot.
Voters decided on similar ballot measures in North Dakota (2018), Colorado (2020), Alabama (2020), Florida (2020), Ohio (2022), and Louisiana (2022). Voters approved all six with at least 62.9% of the vote.
The Oklahoma Constitution currently says, “Subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may prescribe, all citizens of the United States, over the age of eighteen (18) years, who are bona fide residents of this state, are qualified electors of this state.”
The proposed amendment would change that wording to read, “Subject to such exceptions as the Legislature may prescribe, only citizens of the United States who are over the age of eighteen (18) years and who are bona fide residents of this state are qualified electors of this state.”
In Oklahoma, a constitutional amendment requires a simple majority vote in both chambers to be placed on the ballot.
The Oklahoma Senate approved the constitutional amendment –Senate Joint Resolution 23– on May 30 by a vote of 37-7. The House approved the amendment 71-11 the same day. Both chambers approved the amendment along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.
The amendment is the second the Legislature has voted to put on Oklahoma’s 2024 ballot.
From 2000 to 2020, 56 legislatively referred constitutional amendments appeared on the ballot in Oklahoma. Voters approved 43 (76.79%) and rejected 13 (23.21%). An average of 4.58 legislatively referred amendments appeared on the ballot during even-numbered years from 2000 to 2020. The last time the Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot was in 2020. Voters rejected the measure, which would have redirected Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) money to secure federal funding for Medicaid.
Upcoming voter participation deadlines
With the 2024 election season well on its way, we are taking a look at the important deadlines voters need to be aware of over the next two weeks to participate in their state’s primary election.
Eleven states have important voter participation deadlines in the next two weeks. These include voter registration deadlines, early voting opening and closing dates, deadlines to request absentee/mail-in ballots, and deadlines to return those ballots.
The map below shows the states that have voter participation deadlines scheduled in the next two weeks. The bulleted list below includes every state with deadlines between June 5 and June 18.
- Colorado: June 17 (online and mail-in voter registration deadline), June 17 to 25 (early voting).
- Georgia (primary runoff): June 10 to 14 (early voting), June 7 (absentee/mail-in request deadline), June 18 (absentee/mail-in return deadline).
- Maine: June 11 (in-person voter registration deadline), June 6 (absentee/mail-in request deadline), June 11 (absentee/mail-in return deadline).
- Nevada: June 11 (online and in-person voter registration deadline), May 25 to June 7 (early voting), June 11 (absentee/mail-in return deadline).
- New York: June 15 (voter registration deadline), June 15 to 23 (early voting), June 15 (online and mail-in absentee/mail-in request deadline).
- North Dakota: June 10 (absentee/mail-in return deadline).
- Oklahoma: June 13 to 15 (early voting), June 18 (absentee/mail-in return deadline).
- South Carolina (primary): May 28 to June 7 (early voting), June 11 (absentee/mail-in return deadline).
- South Carolina (primary runoff): June 14 (absentee/mail-in request deadline).
- South Dakota (primary runoff): June 14 to July 29 (early voting).
- Utah: June 14 (online and mail-in voter registration deadline), June 11 to 21 (early voting).
- Virginia: June 18 (in-person voter registration deadline), May 3 to June 15 (early voting), June 7 (absentee/mail-in request deadline), June 18 (absentee/mail-in return deadline).
Looking ahead
We’ll bring you all the voter participation information you need for the 2024 election cycle, so stay tuned!