AUGUSTA — The Online Absentee Ballot Request Service is now available for the Nov. 3, 2015 Referendum Election, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap announced today.
Any registered Maine voter may choose to vote absentee, either via mail or in person at their town hall prior to Election Day. Voters do not need to provide a reason to vote absentee.
Voters can request an absentee ballot by:

• Completing and submitting their request form online at maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl
• Filling out the request form online, then printing and signing the completed form to mail to their municipal clerk
• Printing a blank request form to fill out by hand and deliver to their municipal clerk.

The November 2015 ballot has been finalized, to include one citizen's initiative question and two bond issues. Public comment at maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/publiccomment.html is still being accepted on the exact wording of the citizen's initiative question, through Aug. 28.

Question 1 is a citizen's initiative "An Act To Strengthen the Maine Clean Election Act, Improve Disclosure and Make Other Changes to the Campaign Finance Laws." link to mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_127th/billtexts/IB000101.asp

Question 2 is "An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue To Support the Independence of Maine's Seniors." link to legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_127th/chapters/PUBLIC337.asp

Question 3 is "An Act To Authorize Two General Fund Bond Issues To Improve Highways, Bridges and Multimodal Facilities." link to legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_127th/chapters/PUBLIC305.asp

The online service is available now for voters to submit their ballot requests; however, ballots will not be made available to civilian voters until about 30 days before the election. (Ballots for uniformed service and overseas voters will be available at least 45 days before the election.) Once a voter has submitted a request using the online service, they will be sent an email notification with a confirmation number. When the request is processed and accepted by their municipal clerk, they will be sent an additional notification. All Maine municipalities are required to accept electronic requests for absentee ballots.

If you have questions about the absentee voting process, visit maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/voter-info/index.html or call the Division of Elections at 207-624-7650. For more information about the November 2015 elections, visit maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/index.html .