A Summer 2020 Update: Maine Politics in a Time of COVID-19 and Uncertainty 1

ABSTRACT

This was supposed to be a happy birthday year in Maine. The Pine Tree State was due for one of those big, round number birthdays that everyone likes to celebrate, as it turned 200. There was a special flag created, a new USPS stamp commemorating Maine's bicentennial, and lots of celebratory events. But nobody had counted on what has dominated 2020 throughout the US the COVID-19 pandemic. And just like many birthday parties, games, concerts and graduations, COVID-19, and the need for physical distancing it produced, led to the cancellation or postponement of most Bicentennial events. Not only that, but reactions to COVID-19 became the biggest theme in Maine politics in the first half of 2020. The novel coronavirus also had the effect of delaying Maine's spring primary, which had been scheduled for June, until July. Concerns over poll worker staffing--many people who normally serve in that role are older people or others among high risk categories for COVID19--and voter safety--led the state to the decision.