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A vandal with a bat made a midnight raid on the home of missing Maine toddler Ayla Reynolds’ father last night,…

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SOUTH BERWICK, Maine – Police investigators seeking to identify a young boy whose body was left along a…

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From the Kennebec Journal:

AUGUSTA — Republicans, Democrats and the only independent in the Maine House are backing a renewed effort to reject a federal identification program that some consider too invasive.

Independent Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland is sponsoring L.D. 1068, which would prohibit the Secretary of State’s Office from using retinal scans, facial recognition or fingerprint technology to issue driver’s licenses…

Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers supports Chipman’s bill, saying the new driver’s licenses that he introduced recently “satisfy federal requirements and are accepted as valid ID in all states…

Chipman’s focus, and the intent of the MCLU, is to ensure that the secretary of state is barred from disseminating Social Security numbers without legislative authorization, and to prohibit the state from using retinal scans, facial recognition or fingerprint technology to issue licenses, Melnick said.

Independent Political Report

from Ballot Access News
Briefing Schedule Set in Nader Lawsuit Against Democratic National Committee for 2004 Behavior
February 16th, 2011

The Maine Supreme Court has set a briefing schedule in Nader v Maine Democratic Party, et al, case no. washington-county-10-678. This is the tort lawsuit filed in 2009 in which Nader argues that the Democratic National Committee and its allies, in 2004, filed meritless challenges to his ballot access petitions, and engaged in dirty tricks against his circulators. Nader’s brief is due on April 8; the response is due May 27; and the rebuttal is due June 10. The central issue now is whether the lower court should have conducted a trial.

Background in a previous story from Ballot Access News: here

Independent Political Report

MAINE GREENS CONGRATULATE CANDIDATES FOR RUNNING STRONG CAMPAIGNS, STRENGTHEN THE CALL FOR ELECTORAL REFORM
Maine Green Independent Party Candidates who ran for the office of state house and state senate ran strong campaigns, often finishing a close second in the race Tuesday night. Fred Horch, of Brunswick, ran a close second with 34% of the vote [...]
Green Party Watch

By way of Green Party Watch:

MAINE GREENS CONGRATULATE CANDIDATES FOR RUNNING STRONG CAMPAIGNS, STRENGTHEN THE CALL FOR ELECTORAL REFORM

Maine Green Independent Party Candidates who ran for the office of state house and state senate ran strong campaigns, often finishing a close second in the race Tuesday night. Fred Horch, of Brunswick, ran a close second with 34% of the vote in District 66.

In Portland, voters approved the work the of the Portland Charter Commission that calls for the election of a mayor using instant runoff voting, a method of voting that allows voters to choose their preference of candidates by number.

“This is a great victory for the people of Portland and those of us who worked for this reform on the commission,” said Anna Trevorrow, a Green Independent candidate who finished second in her race for state house in district 120, against incumbent Diane Russell.

“This also provides us the opportunity to use instant runoff voting as a starting point for electoral reform in the city and as a model for the state,” said Trevorrow who also serves on the state steering committee. Eliot Cutler, the gubernatorial candidate that finished second in Tuesday’s race, was quoted today on MPBN that he would like to pursue a method of electoral reform in Maine that included a runoff.

The Maine Green Independent Party has always favored instant-runoff voting as a more democratic way of voting, since it eliminates the need for a second election between the candidates who receive the top percentages of the vote and allows voter to rank their preference of candidates in order from one to the amount of total candidates. It would also mean the winner would have to get just over 50% of the vote to be declared the winner, thus encouraging all candidates to run positive campaigns.

“It’s time to take instant-runoff voting seriously, especially if people are going to look into the idea of having a runoff election. The runoff could take place by the election workers and require no additional voting, no second election,” said Nate Shea, media chair for the Maine Green Independent Party (MGIP). “It would also encourage greater civic participation and would encourage candidates to soften their tone to attract a wide-range of voters, not just their base,” said Shea.

The MGIP plans to pursue the idea and implementation of instant runoff voting for future elections. Party leaders and members plan to contact members of the legislature as well as key political players who have expressed an interest in the reform. Anyone who is interested and would like to express their support for or learn more about instant runoff voting is encouraged to visit our website at www.mainegreens.org and click on the “contact us” tab or call the Portland office at (207)699-1321.

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Press contact: Nate Shea – nateshea78@gmail.com (207)745-4517
Spokesperson: Anna Trevorrow – ajtrev@gwi.net, (207)699-4141 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (207)699-4141

Independent Political Report