Brewer Comments On Bill Aimed At Easing Town Clerk Duties
UMaine political scientist Mark Brewer told the Portland Press Herald a Republican-backed bill in the Maine legislature that seeks to ease town clerks’ duties around elections by eliminating same-day voter registrations and some absentee voting has a partisan edge. In recent decades, he said, Democrats want fewer restrictions on registration and voting because that party has in recent decades been the party of the “have-nots,” while Republicans want tighter registration and voting requirements because they have been the party of the “haves.” Studies have show, Brewer added, that the easier it is to register and vote, the higher the turnout and the more likely that people with lower education levels and lower incomes will vote.