Maine § 21-A §601 Ballot preparation

Maine Statutes

§ 21-A §601 — Ballot preparation

Maine·Title 21-A ELECTIONS·Ch. 9 CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS

The Secretary of State shall prepare the election ballots according to the following provisions.

1.Arrangement. The ballots must be arranged in a manner that is as consistent and uniform as possible throughout the State, except that ranked‑choice contests must be grouped together and may be presented on the same page of the ballot as contests other than ranked-choice contests or on a separate ballot or ballot page from contests other than ranked-choice contests.

2.Content. The ballot must contain the items listed in this section.

3.Order of offices. The order of offices on the ballot is as follows: President, United States Senator, Governor, Representative to Congress, State Senator and Representative to the Legislature, and the county offices in the following order: judge of probate, r

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The Secretary of State shall prepare the election ballots according to the following provisions.
1.
Arrangement.
The ballots must be arranged in a manner that is as consistent and uniform as possible throughout the State, except that ranked‑choice contests must be grouped together and may be presented on the same page of the ballot as contests other than ranked-choice contests or on a separate ballot or ballot page from contests other than ranked-choice contests.
2.
Content.
The ballot must contain the items listed in this section.
3.
Order of offices.
The order of offices on the ballot is as follows: President, United States Senator, Governor, Representative to Congress, State Senator and Representative to the Legislature, and the county offices in the following order: judge of probate, register of probate, county treasurer, register of deeds, sheriff, district attorney and county commissioner, except that the order may be modified to allow ranked-choice contests to be printed on the opposite side of the ballot, separate from contests other than ranked-choice contests.
4.
Distinctively colored.
When possible, election ballots must be printed on white paper. Each political party participating in a primary election must have a separate ballot. The paper for each party's primary ballot must be printed or distinguished with a different color marking as determined by the Secretary of State. For municipalities that include more than one single member district of the State Senate or the House of Representatives, or parts of more than one single member district, the Secretary of State may prepare ballots with one or more distinctive color markings for each single member district or part of a single member district within the municipality.
5.
Size.
The Secretary of State shall determine the size of the ballots. With the permission of the Secretary of State, the clerk may make a reasonable number of enlarged ballots in order to assist voters who are visually impaired. The clerk may also make a reasonable number of enlarged instruction posters and enlarged sample ballots at the clerk's own discretion. A voter who is visually impaired may request of the clerk an enlarged ballot or an enlarged sample ballot to assist the voter. The clerk shall record and report to the Secretary of State the number of enlarged ballots made for visually impaired voters.
6.
Contents concealed.
The ballots may be folded uniformly so that the interior contents are concealed, except in municipalities using electronic tabulating systems.

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Legislative History

PL 1985, c. 161, §6 (NEW). PL 1993, c. 473, §§11-13 (AMD). PL 1993, c. 473, §46 (AFF). PL 1997, c. 436, §§67,68 (AMD). PL 1999, c. 426, §17 (AMD). PL 2001, c. 310, §29 (AMD). PL 2003, c. 584, §§5,6 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 455, §§18, 19 (AMD). PL 2009, c. 253, §§23, 24 (AMD). PL 2013, c. 131, §§15, 16 (AMD). IB 2015, c. 3, §3 (AMD). IB 2015, c. 3, §6 (AFF). PL 2017, c. 316, §3 (AMD). PL 2017, c. 402, Pt. C, §40 (AMD). PL 2017, c. 402, Pt. F, §1 (AFF). PL 2019, c. 320, §§2, 3 (AMD). PL 2019, c. 371, §§14, 15 (AMD). PL 2019, c. 417, Pt. B, §14 (AFF). PL 2021, c. 273, §10 (AMD). PL 2025, c. 397, §29 (AMD).