Maine § 21-A §651 Furnishing and distribution

Maine Statutes

§ 21-A §651 — Furnishing and distribution

Maine § 21-A §651

Title 21-AELECTIONS

Ch. 9CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS

This text of Maine § 21-A §651 (Furnishing and distribution) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 21-A, § 21-A §651 (2026).

Text

The following procedure shall be observed on election day.

1.Election materials sent to voting place. Before the polls are opened, the clerk shall deliver or have delivered the election materials marked for each voting place to the warden at that voting place. The warden shall give the clerk a receipt noting the number of ballots received after the election officials have opened the boxes of ballots and verified the contents.

2.Election materials distributed and posted. At any time after the materials are received and before the polls are open, the clerk may open the packages or boxes of election materials, break the seals on the packages not marked "ballots," and use the materials for instructional purposes. On election day, the clerk or the election officials must post the voter instru

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The following procedure shall be observed on election day.
1.
Election materials sent to voting place.
Before the polls are opened, the clerk shall deliver or have delivered the election materials marked for each voting place to the warden at that voting place. The warden shall give the clerk a receipt noting the number of ballots received after the election officials have opened the boxes of ballots and verified the contents.
2.
Election materials distributed and posted.
At any time after the materials are received and before the polls are open, the clerk may open the packages or boxes of election materials, break the seals on the packages not marked "ballots," and use the materials for instructional purposes. On election day, the clerk or the election officials must post the voter instructional materials described in section 605‑A, if applicable to the election, as follows:
2-A.
Testing electronic voting systems.
2-B.
Opening of ballot packages.
No more than 2 hours before the opening of the polls, the warden shall break the seals on the packages containing the ballots and distribute the ballots to the election clerks in charge of them. The breaking of the seals on the packages containing the ballots is a public proceeding and any member of the public may be present.
3.
Ballot box examined.
Before opening the ballots, the warden shall open the official ballot box, examine it and show publicly that it is empty. Immediately after examination, the warden shall lock the box and deliver the key to the ward clerk who shall keep it until the polls are closed. After the box has been locked, it may not be moved until the polls are closed.
4.
Voting starts.
As soon as the duties required by subsections 1 to 3 have been performed, the warden shall permit voting to start.

Legislative History

PL 1985, c. 161, §6 (NEW). PL 1985, c. 272 (AMD). PL 1991, c. 347, §§3,4 (AMD). PL 1995, c. 459, §55 (AMD). PL 1997, c. 436, §§92-94 (AMD). PL 2001, c. 310, §34 (AMD). PL 2001, c. 516, §9 (AMD). PL 2003, c. 584, §8 (AMD). PL 2009, c. 253, §25 (AMD). PL 2011, c. 342, §22 (AMD). PL 2017, c. 45, §1 (AMD). PL 2017, c. 246, §1 (AMD). PL 2019, c. 371, §18 (AMD). PL 2019, c. 636, §13 (AMD).