https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=knox

A placeholder page to collect these links is in PR #19

https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Allow_for_Alternative_Initiative_Signatures_for_Persons_with_Disabilities_Amendment_(2019)

#Question title

#Description (will display on homepage)

#The gist

#Ballot question (exact text of the question)

#Yes means

#No means

#Tell me more

#Follow the money

##The money will be used to

##The money will be coming from

#Pros

#Cons

#Who cares

##Support

##Opposition

#Further reading

#References

#Tags

#Election date

• Document requirements added in #95

@elburnett Do you have details for this?

Question title

Short title describing the question

Description (will display on homepage)

The gist

This resolution would... Concise summary of the purpose of the question

Ballot question (exact text of the question)

Yes means

I am in favor of whatever the question does

No means

I don't want to whatever the question does

Tell me more

More details go here

Follow the money

The money will be used to
*

The money will be coming from
*

Pros

The primary arguments for this referendum are:
*

Cons

The primary arguments against this referendum are:
*

Who cares

Support
*

Opposition
*

Further reading

[Full text](link goes here)
[Ballotpedia article](link goes here)

References

Put the number in brackets above to indicate a footnote to a reference.

1. Maine State Legislature. [title of full text](link goes here). Accessed [date].
2. Ballotpedia State Desk. [title of Ballotpedia article](link goes here). Ballotpedia. Accessed [date].

Image

Find an open source image that will work for the thumbnail and hero image and put the link to that here.

Tags

Election date

Review locality websites and add information about July election in this spreadsheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dk58MD0qBAM37BDOZwKIz10hp5AARAIX8u_qvuDnYaI/edit#gid=0

So we can track which local websites people are going to.

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=oxford

When I post to Facebook, the logo gets cutoff. Is there something we can control to prevent that?

Try to pull all Maine towns from the State of Maine website, contacting the owner of the following page or the Maine Municipal Association in order to fast-track this project.

Also, contact the Secretary of State's Office in order to get all of the municipal ballots or ballot issue websites if at all possible.

A lookup is available, but a dataset should be available for download.

Check out the following site:
Voter Registration Data, Election Data and Online Forms

Contact information for all municipal clerks & registrars

https://maineballot.org/july%202020%20election/Q2_Transportation/

There's a new bond question that we need to add to the website.

Question title

Transportation

Description (will display on homepage)

This measure would allow the state to borrow $105 million for transportation improvements.

The gist

Passing this question would allow the state to borrow $105 million, matched by $137 million in federal funds, for transportation improvements. This is the third of 3 consecutive years of transportation bonds that will fill a shortfall in the highway fund.

Ballot question (exact text of the question)

"Do you favor a $105,000,000 bond issue to build or improve roads, bridges, railroads, airports, transit and ports and make other transportation investments, to be used to match an estimated $137,000,000 in federal and other funds?"

Yes means

I am in favor of issuing the $105 million bond to address infrastructure improvements.

No means

I do not want Maine to borrow $105 million to address infrastructure improvements.

Tell me more

Passing this question would allow the State of Maine to borrow $105 million for a variety of infrastructure improvements, including roads, bridges, railroads, airports, transit and ports.[^3]

This is a bond issue -- if voters approve the bond, it means that the State of Maine is allowed to borrow money for the project described in the ballot question and has to pay it back over 10 years. Learn more about how bonds work.

Follow the money

Principal: $105,000,000

Interest: $28,875,000 (assumes 5.0% over 10 years)

Total cost: $133,875,000[^3]

The money will be used to

• $85 million for highways and bridges [^3]
• $15 million for projects that “preserve public safety or otherwise have demonstrated high transportation value” for things like ports, railroads, airports, bicycle, and walking trails[^3]
• $4 million to fund a Department of Environmental Protection grant program for upgrading fish and wildlife habitats[^3]
• $1 million for improving a wharf at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute[^3]

The money will be coming from

• $105 million bond issued by the state and paid back through the budget and taxes over 10 years.[^3]
• $137 million in matching funds from federal and local governments[^3]
  • The federal government will match funds for highway and bridge projects at a ratio of 1.1 federal dollar to 1 state dollar.[^3]
  • Municipalities will be required to match 50% or more of project costs[^3].

Pros

The primary arguments for this referendum are:

• Maine's roads and infrastructure are deteriorating.
• Makes up for some of the shortfall in gas taxes from fuel-efficient vehicles that has left the funds for highway repairs insufficient.
• Issuing the bond opens up matching funds.
• Interest rates are currently low, making it a good time to invest.[^3]

Cons

The primary arguments against this referendum are:

• Maine already has $653,433,911 in outstanding bond debt that this will add to and it could lead to increased taxes.[^3]

Who cares

Nobody has registered support or opposition to this measure.

Further reading

Full text
Ballotpedia article

References

Put the number in brackets above to indicate a footnote to a reference.

1. Maine State Legislature. H.P. 1049 - L.D. 1437. Accessed September 16, 2019.
2. Ballotpedia State Desk. Maine Transportation Infrastructure Bond Issue (2019). Ballotpedia. Accessed September 16, 2019.
3. Dunlap, Matthew. Maine Citizen’s Guide to the Referendum Election. Accessed September 16, 2019.

Image

We can use the same image we've used for other transportation bond questions.
/assets/img/2018_11/Question3Transportation.jpg

Tags

Bond
Transportation

Election date

November 5, 2019

The first question for March is live. We need content.
https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/citizens/index.html

Question title

Short title describing the question

Description (will display on homepage)

The gist

This resolution would... Concise summary of the purpose of the question

Ballot question (exact text of the question)

Do you want to reject the new law that removes religious and philosophical exemptions to requiring immunization against certain communicable diseases for students to attend schools and colleges and for employees of nursery schools and health care facilities?

Yes means

I am in favor of whatever the question does

No means

I don't want to whatever the question does

Tell me more

More details go here

Follow the money

The money will be used to
*

The money will be coming from
*

Pros

The primary arguments for this referendum are:
*

Cons

The primary arguments against this referendum are:
*

Who cares

Support
*

Opposition
*

Further reading

[Full text](link goes here)
[Ballotpedia article](link goes here)

References

Put the number in brackets above to indicate a footnote to a reference.

1. Maine State Legislature. [title of full text](link goes here). Accessed [date].
2. Ballotpedia State Desk. [title of Ballotpedia article](link goes here). Ballotpedia. Accessed [date].

Image

Find an open source image that will work for the thumbnail and hero image and put the link to that here.

Tags

Election date

See PR #19.

Penobscot County has a bunch of unorganized townships that all link to a sub site of the county site for the unorganized townships. It would be nice to add some logic to the table, so we don't have to include the town name in those links.

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=androscoggin

Since I deal with this a lot with day job, took a look at Accessibility score and any flagged issues based on WCAG2.0 at least...will work on a few small changes to help in this area. One major hit is with the lighter grey font color in top menu for instance, they like to have a certain degree of contrast to help with those with vision impairment, so that means that grey may just need to be a little darker throughout, some items on site could use wai-aria labels etc.

I'll self assign but if anyone else wants to chip in feel free

The archive page still contains the default introductory paragraph for local elections:

This is a work in progress list of websites or contact information for county, city, and town elections in Maine. The information about what's on the local ballot is based on what we could find on the locality websites, but may not be complete because the websites aren't all up to date with information about the current election. If information about your locality isn't listed and you would like to provide us with the information, please send it to [email protected].

We should customize this for archived election pages.

We're currently displaying what's on the ballot for local elections in a table column. We need a way to archive this for future reference. We should do it before the June election when we'll have new content for the column.

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=piscataquis

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=somerset

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=hancock

A list of them is here.
https://www.maine.gov/revenue/propertytax/unorganizedterritory/ut_map_ref.pdf

The ones in Penobscot, Sagadahoc, and Oxford counties are already added.

The election is on November 5, 2019.

I put this together and it could use a second set of eyeballs.
https://maineballot.org/november%202019%20election/Q1_Transportation/

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=lincoln

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=york

• Acton
• Alfred
• Arundel
• Berwick
• Buxton
• Cornish
• Dayton
• Eliot
• Hollis
• Kennebunk
• Kennebunkport
• Kittery
• Lebanon
• Limerick
• Limington
• Lyman
• Newfield
• North Berwick
• Ogunquit
• Old Orchard Beach
• Parsonsfield
• Shapleigh
• South Berwick
• Waterboro
• Wells
• York

https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_129th/chapters/PUBLIC673.asp
https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Question_2,_Transportation_Infrastructure_Bond_Issue_(July_2020)

Question title

Question 2: Transportation

Description (will display on homepage)

This measure would allow the state to borrow $105 million for transportation improvements.

The gist

Passing this question would allow the state to borrow $105 million, matched by $275 million in federal and other funds, for transportation improvements.

Ballot question (exact text of the question)

"Do you favor a $105,000,000 bond issue for improvement of highways and bridges statewide and for multimodal facilities or equipment related to transit, freight and passenger railroads, aviation, ports, harbors, marine transportation and active transportation projects, to be used to match an estimated $275,000,000 in federal and other funds?"[^1]

Yes means

I am in favor of issuing the $105 million bond to address infrastructure improvements.

No means

I do not want Maine to borrow $105 million to address infrastructure improvements.

Tell me more

Passing this question would allow the State of Maine to borrow $105 million for a variety of infrastructure improvements, including roads, bridges, railroads, airports, transit and ports.[2] The bulk of the money will go towards high priority highways and bridges.

This is a bond issue – if voters approve the bond, it means that the State of Maine is allowed to borrow money for the project described in the ballot question and has to pay it back over 10 years. Learn more about how bonds work.

Follow the money

Principal: $105,000,000
Interest: $28,875,000 (assumes 5.0% over 10 years)
Total cost: $133,875,000 [^3]

The money will be used to

• $90 million for highways, bridges, and MaineDOT's Municipal Partnership Initiative (MPI) [^2]
• $15 million for multimodal facilities and equipment related to transit, freight and passenger railroads, aviation, ports, harbors, marine transportation, and active transportation projects [^2]

The money will be coming from

• $105 million bond issued by the state and paid back through the budget and taxes over 10 years.[^2]
• $275million in matching funds from federal and other funds. [^2]

Pros

The primary arguments for this referendum are:

• Maine’s roads and infrastructure are deteriorating.
• Makes up for some of the shortfall in gas taxes from fuel-efficient vehicles that has left the funds for highway repairs insufficient.
• Issuing the bond opens up matching funds.
• Interest rates are currently low, making it a good time to invest.

Cons

The primary arguments against this referendum are:

• Maine already has $1.43 in outstanding bond debt that this will add to and it could lead to increased taxes. [2]

Who cares

Nobody has registered support or opposition to this bond.

Further reading

Full text
Ballotpedia article

References

Put the number in brackets above to indicate a footnote to a reference.

1. Maine State Legislature. An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue for Infrastructure To Improve Transportation and Internet Connections. Accessed June 3, 2020.
2. Ballotpedia State Desk. Maine Question 2, Transportation Infrastructure Bond Issue (July 2020). Ballotpedia. Accessed June 3, 2020.
3. Treasurer of State. Treasury Statement. Accessed June 10, 2020.

Image

Use same image as previous transportation bond questions.

Tags

Bond, Transportation

Election date

07-14-2020

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=sagadahoc

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=waldo

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=penobscot

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=kennebec

See PR #19.

I just found cities and towns and I'm not sure if there are other levels. (See PR#19 for the local-elections branch with the list).

https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_129th/chapters/PUBLIC673.asp
https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Question_1,_High-Speed_Internet_Infrastructure_Bond_Issue_(July_2020)

Question title

Question 1: Internet Infrastructure

Description (will display on homepage)

This measure would allow the state to borrow $15 million for high-speed internet infrastructure improvements.

The gist

Passing this question would allow the state to borrow $15 million, matched by $30 million in other funds, for high-speed internet infrastructure improvements in areas where infrastructure is lacking.[^1]

Ballot question (exact text of the question)

“Do you favor a $15,000,000 bond issue to invest in high-speed internet infrastructure for unserved and underserved areas, to be used to match up to $30,000,000 in federal, private, local or other funds?”[^1]

Yes means

I am in favor of borrowing $15 million to improve high-speed internet infrastructure.

No means

I don't want Maine to borrow $15 million to improve high-speed internet infrastructure.

Tell me more

Passing this question would allow the State of Maine to borrow $15 million for the ConnectME Authority, a public organization responsible for promoting high-speed internet usage in unserved and underserved areas of Maine.[^2]

This is a bond issue – if voters approve the bond, it means that the State of Maine is allowed to borrow money for the project described in the ballot question and has to pay it back over 10 years. Learn more about how bonds work.

Follow the money

Principal: $15,000,000
Interest: $4,125,000 (assumes 5.0% over 10 years)
Total cost: $19,125,000 [^4]

The money will be used to

• Improve high-speed internet access in unserved and underserved areas of Maine. [^2]

The money will be coming from

• $15 million bond issued by the state and paid back through the budget and taxes over 10 years.[^2]
• Up to $30 million in federal, private, local, or other matching funds.[^1]

Pros

The primary arguments for this referendum are:

• About 50% of the state is considered unserved or underserved for high-speed internet access. [^3]
• There's an increased need for high-speed internet with schools moving online and people working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• High-speed internet can improve services such as healthcare and education. [^3]
• New residents and businesses may be attracted to Maine if the state has high-speed internet access, especially as businesses and employees look for lower cost locations as more businesses move to remote working models. [^3]
• Low population density makes it difficult to the private sector to provide this infrastructure. [^3]
• Issuing the bond opens up matching funds.
• Interest rates are currently low, making it a good time to invest.

Cons

The primary arguments against this referendum are:

• Maine already has $1.43 billion in outstanding bond debt that this will add to and it could lead to increased taxes.[2]
• Residents of more populated may not think it's worth paying for infrastructure in less populated rural areas.

Who cares

Nobody has registered support or opposition for this question.

Further reading

Full text
Ballotpedia article
ConnectMaine State of Maine Broadband Action Plan

References

Put the number in brackets above to indicate a footnote to a reference.

1. Maine State Legislature. An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue for Infrastructure To Improve Transportation and Internet Connections. Accessed June 3, 2020.
2. Ballotpedia State Desk. Maine Question 1, High-Speed Internet Infrastructure Bond Issue (July 2020). Ballotpedia. Accessed June 3, 2020.
3. ConnectMaine. ConnectMaine State of Maine Broadband Action Plan. Accessed June 3, 2020.
4. Treasurer of State. Treasury Statement. Accessed June 10, 2020.

Image

https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/adc972a4-e29f-4fe1-a832-0644e4557dfb

Tags

Bond, Internet, Infrastructure

Election date

07-14-2020

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=cumberland

• Baldwin
• Bridgton
• Brunswick
• Cape Elizabeth
• Casco
• Chebeague Island
• Cumberland
• Falmouth
• Freeport
• Frye Island
• Gorham
• Gray
• Harpswell
• Harrison
• Long Island
• Naples
• New Gloucester
• North Yarmouth
• Pownal
• Raymond
• Scarborough
• Sebago
• Standish
• Windham
• Yarmouth

To be populated in the local-elections branch (see PR #19).

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=aroostook

https://maineballot.org/july%202020%20election/Q1_Internet/

Google Search Console flagged the site as having issues because of font size on mobile. They, however, provided no details.

Needs a second set of eyes.

https://maineballot.org/november%202019%20election/Q2_AltSignature/

I added a column to the Google spreadsheet for this. We need to add logic for it to show on the page.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dk58MD0qBAM37BDOZwKIz10hp5AARAIX8u_qvuDnYaI/edit#gid=0

There's interest in having a question page for a Portland question, so we need a way to have those that can be linked from the local elections page, but not get put in with the statewide questions on the homepage.

https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Allow_for_Alternative_Initiative_Signatures_for_Persons_with_Disabilities_Amendment_(2019)

@shannonmcharg It looks like the Ballotpedia link under further reading might be going to the wrong ballot question.

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=washington

To see which town sites are being searched for and exited to; add to google analytics via events/tag manager

https://www.maine.gov/local/county.php?c=franklin

I have analytics in screenshots from SquareSpace, if we could pull the numbers into a digital format, we could compare against this and future years that are in Google Analytics.