November 7, 2023 Election Results

Maine’s November 2023 statewide elections were exclusively referendum questions, four were citizen initiatives, and four were proposed amendments to the Maine Constitution. Of these, Questions 5, 7 and 8 were placed on the ballot by the Legislature at the request of the Secretary of State. These three questions reflect court findings that Maine’s current laws are unconstitutional at the Federal level, and thus have not been enforced since those rulings were made.

The questions as they appeared on the ballot are listed below with the results as reported so far. These results will not be certified by the Secretary of State or the Governor for several days as the actual vote data must be verified in each municipality and then submitted to the Secretary of State, whose Elections staff then audits the results.

The only Special Election to the State Legislature was in District 50, comprised of the entire city of Bath. Third term Rep. Sean Paulhus, D-Bath, resigned from his seat in July to take up the position of Registrar of Probate for Sagadahoc County. The only candidate to run to complete his term was Democrat David Sinclair. David is an attorney who lives and works in Bath and has served as a Bath City Councilor from 2008-2014. Republicans and Greens did not caucus to choose a candidate and no individuals attempted to gather signature as an Unenrolled (independent) candidate nor was there any effort to support a write-in candidate. In recent years the district has been reliably Democratic.

Sadly, last week Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt, D-South Portland, passed away. This will require a special election next year, probably sometime in March. Reckitt was in her fourth term in District 122. This is also a reliably Democratic district. In both these cases the new Representative will be considered to have served one term and thus will only be able to run for re-election three more times in succession.

Results as of Wednesday morning 52.68% reporting

QUESTION 1: Do you want to bar some quasi-governmental entities and all consumer-owned electric utilities from taking on more than $1 billion in debt unless they get statewide voter approval?

Yes     64.93 %
No     35.07%

QUESTION 2: Do you want to ban foreign governments and entities that they own, control, or influence from making campaign contributions or financing communications for or against candidates or ballot questions?

Yes     86.51%
No      13.49%

QUESTION 3: Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine?

No      68.11%
Yes    31.89%  

QUESTION 4: Do you want to require vehicle manufacturers to standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide remote access to those systems and mechanical data to owners and independent repair facilities?

Yes    84.53%
No     15.47%

QUESTION 5: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to change the time period for judicial review of the validity of written petitions from within 100 days from the date of filing to within 100 business days from the date of filing of a written petition in the office of the Secretary of State, with an exception for petitions filed within 30 calendar days before or after a general election?

Yes   59.56%
No   40.44%

QUESTION 6: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to require that all of the provisions of the Constitution be included in the official printed copies of the Constitution prepared by the Secretary of State?

Yes    74.23%
No      25.77%

QUESTION 7: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision requiring a circulator of a citizen's initiative or people's veto petition to be a resident of Maine and a registered voter in Maine, requirements that have been ruled unconstitutional in federal court?

No      67.57%
Yes     32.43%

QUESTION 8: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision prohibiting a person under guardianship for reasons of mental illness from voting for Governor, Senators and Representatives, which the United States District Court for the District of Maine found violates the United States Constitution and federal law?

No      52.03%
Yes     47.97%  

Municipal Elections of Note

There were also municipal elections in some of Maine’s largest cities and towns. We have included results of Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Biddeford, and Bangor.

Portland

Mayor 4-year term.
This race was decided by ranked-choice voting. If no candidate wins a majority of first-round votes, second choices are considered, and so on until a candidate receives over 50% of the vote. Below are the first-round results. After multiple rounds Mark Dion prevailed.

Mark Dion                  39.67%
Andrew Zarro             26.49%
Pious Ali                     21.90%
Justin Costa               7.89%
Dylan Pugh                4.05%

City Council, at large
3-year term, vote for 1.

April Fournier          65.41%
William Linnell          34.59%

City Council, District 4
3-year term, vote for 1.

Anna Bullett                         58.11%
Robert Samuel Cady           41.89%

City Council, District 5
3-year term, vote for 1.

Kathryn Sykes                       58.92%
Matthew Buonopane             41.08%

Question A: Rent-Control Amendment
Yes      34%
No       66%    

Question B: Gender-Inclusive Language
Yes     72%
No      28%     

Question C: Changes to Nomination Petition Process
Yes     74%
No      26%    

LEWISTON

Mayor
This will be a runoff in December between the top two since neither received over 50%.

Carl Sheline               45%
Jon Connor                38%
Luke Jensen              12%
Joshua Pietrowicz      5%      

City Council, Ward 1
Josh Nagine   100%

City Council, Ward 2
Susan Longchamps   62%
Robert McCarthy          38%  

City Council, Ward 3
Scott Harriman          100%     

City Council, Ward 4
Michael Roy               53%
Rick LaChapelle         47%    

City Council, Ward 5
Eryn Soule-Leclair     52%
Billie Jayne Cook         48%    

City Council, Ward 6
David Chittim 54%
Lee Clement    46%      

City Council, Ward 7
Tim Gallant    100% 

Auburn

Mayor
Jeff Harmon               62%
Jason Levesque         38%

City Council At-Large
Adam Platz                31%
Belinda Gerry            27%
Dana Staples             23%
Ryan Smith                19 %      

City Council, Ward 1
Richard Whiting         100%

City Council, Ward 2
Tim Cowan                 70%
Ryan Hawes               30%    

City Council, Ward 3
Stephen Milks            66%
John Mehrmann          34%     

City Council, Ward 4
Benjamin Weisner      100%

City Council, Ward 5
Leroy Walker  65%
Stefanie Mahr 35%     

Referendum on $45 Million Bond to Pay for New Combined Police/Fire Public Safety Building
Yes      59%
No       41 %      

Bangor

There were three City Council seats open, and the seats are won by the three who received the most votes in a city-wide election.

Carolyn Fish             3,151
Susan Deane            2,634
Joseph Leonard       2,448
Morgan Urquhart       2,271
Phillip Henry              2,254
Michael Beck             2,184

Biddeford

Mayor
Martin Grohman                  57%
Susan Deschambault           43%       

City Council At-Large, 2 Seats
Marc P. Lessard        42%
Doris Elsa Ortiz        33%
Gregg R. Shapiro       24       

City Council, Ward 3
Roger P. Beaupre      54%
Jason G. Litalien       46%      

Question 1: $9 Million Primary School Bond
Yes                  67%
No                   33%