Maine’s Election Day issues: Getting asked to show ID and a town running out of ballots

 David S. Dari leaves a voting booth before casting his ballot at South Portland Community Center on Tuesday afternoon. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) [](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/election-2026/) _[Read all of our coverage](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/election-2026/) of Maine's 2026 election or stay up to date with the latest developments through the [Maine Political Report](https://www.pressherald.com/mprnewsletter/) in your inbox or [text messages](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/01/11/maine-political-news-sent-right-to-your-phone-sign-up-for-text-alerts-from-our-editor/) from politics editor Kirby Wilson._ From numerous voters in a Portland suburb getting asked to provide identification at the polls to online results listing the wrong names of candidates, several towns around Maine had a few issues on Election Day. Tuesday’s primary election featured high-profile races for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House along with an array of State House and local contests. Plenty of Maine voters also had school board candidates and school budgets on their ballots. Several polling locations in Portland and in other towns, such as Camden, Falmouth, Waterboro, Poland and Yarmouth, had long lines that saw voters wait around 45 minutes, according to nonpartisan election observers with the League of Women Voters of Maine. However, the organization reported that its observers saw no “major disruptions” during Tuesday’s primary. (Mainers are [still awaiting final results](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/06/09/catch-up-on-maine-statewide-and-local-election-results/?link-source=announcement-bar) for the races that are going to ranked-choice voting runoffs.) But Maine still saw a few hiccups. Here’s a breakdown. ID REQUESTS POSE PROBLEMS A few complaints came from residents in Gorham, where several voters said in interviews and via online community forums that they were required to present their ID before being allowed to vote Tuesday. That goes against state law, which only [requires](https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/21-a/title21-Asec112-A.html) voters to present ID if registering to vote on Election Day. It was not immediately clear how widespread that issue was Tuesday. Similar problems [occurred](https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/11/05/politics/elections/linneus-maine-asking-voters-for-id/) in the small Aroostook County town of Linneus in 2024. Maine voters soundly [rejected](https://www.pressherald.com/2025/11/04/voter-id-hangs-in-balance-as-question-1-ballots-are-being-tallied/) a conservative-backed referendum last year that would have required them to present a photo ID when casting a ballot. Advertisement One Gorham voter, who posted about their experience online, reported that polling location volunteers told them they had to present their ID because paperwork the volunteers consulted when checking in the voter said to ask for the identification. The volunteers themselves were confused, the resident said, adding that they had not changed their name or address for years. Gorham Town Clerk Laurie Nordfors told the voter she did not understand why the volunteers asked for ID, the voter said. Nordfors told the Portland Press Herald on Wednesday that she took calls regarding the ID issue from at least two voters in Gorham, which [has](https://www.gorhammaine.gov/town-clerk/pages/polling-places) three polling locations. Nordfors said the issue could have stemmed from voters not ensuring they proved their residency or not sharing identification if they registered online before voting for the first time since making a change. League of Women Voters of Maine Deputy Director Jen Lancaster said their observers did not receive similar reports of voters getting asked to show ID in other towns. An observer who was in Gorham for part of Tuesday shared that at least two voters left a polling place to grab their IDs so they could return and register to vote, according to Lancaster. SLOW VOTE COUNTING Another hiccup in Gorham involved Nordfors sending out the unofficial election results on Tuesday night that had several vote totals left blank, and several fields with the incorrect candidates. Some of the names listed in the reported results were of people who ran in previous years but not this year. Nordfors sent a message at 6 a.m. Wednesday to tell viewers to disregard those unofficial results. Just after 7 a.m., she sent corrected unofficial results, explaining that her computer “auto recovered the PDF from a prior year,” and that she was “not sure how that happened.” Advertisement A similar issue with an incorrect candidate name happened in South Portland. According to unofficial results the city posted around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Andrew Piantidosi received 424 votes in the Republican primary for Maine’s 1st Congressional District. But Piantidosi, who [ran for the same office](https://www.pressherald.com/2024/06/11/republicans-cast-ballots-to-select-challenger-to-rep-pingree-in-1st-district/) [in 2024](https://www.pressherald.com/2024/06/11/republicans-cast-ballots-to-select-challenger-to-rep-pingree-in-1st-district/), was not on the ballot this year. South Portland City Clerk Jessica Hughes said she must have made an error late Tuesday night when transferring the results into the template the city uses each year. Piantidosi’s results were supposed to be for [Joshua James Pietrowicz](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/06/09/republicans-in-1st-district-primary-to-face-chellie-pingree-running-tight-race/), who ran this year in the 1st District primary. “It was simply just a clerical error,” Hughes said. RUNNING OUT OF BALLOTS At least one town reportedly ran out of preprinted ballots due to higher-than-expected turnout Tuesday. Raymond Town Clerk Melanie Fernald said the unexpectedly high turnout exhausted the initial supply of ballots and led to officials printing 200 more local ballots that could not be processed by the tabulating machines. Officials had to hand-count those ballots. Local races in Raymond included a special select board election, in which [an ousted select board member was competing to serve the final year of his three-year term](https://www.pressherald.com/2026/05/29/raymond-select-board-candidates-share-priorities-at-forum/), and the Regional School Unit 14 budget. Advertisement In Berwick, officials released election results Wednesday evening after a delay that had election workers manually counting ballots all day Wednesday inside a room at Berwick Town Hall. While Berwick had reported its state results by Wednesday morning, the outcomes of the town’s school and select board races — and the passage of the Noble school budget — were not announced until around 5 p.m. CONFUSION OVER MAINE’S RULES Elsewhere, the League of Women Voters said the majority of its reports Tuesday highlighted confusion around Maine’s semi-open primary system, which applied to the gubernatorial race for the first time this year. A number of registered voters from Maine’s Green Independent and Libertarian parties showed up at polls and learned they would not be able to vote in the Republican or Democratic primaries due to being registered with a third party. Unenrolled voters may cast ballots in partisan primaries, but voters registered with a party can only vote in that party’s primary. The organization encouraged town clerks to work with the Department of the Secretary of State to continue to issue public service announcements on the semi-open primary system and who can participate. Observers also notified election wardens of multiple electioneering attempts by candidates at several polling locations. The League of Women Voters of Maine reported one incident of voter intimidation in Augusta, where “agitators spoke aggressively to voters” as they entered a polling place. The election warden was promptly notified, according to observers, and officials asked the agitators to leave. _Press Herald Staff Writers Dana Richie, Isabelle Oss, Madeleine Kaptein and Rory Sweeting contributed to this story._ Copy the Story Link Tagged: [election 2026](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/election-2026/), [gorham maine](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/gorham-maine/), [voter ID](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/voter-id/) [](https://www.pressherald.com/author/billy-kobin) [Billy KobinStaff Writer](https://www.pressherald.com/author/billy-kobin) Billy covers politics for the Press Herald. He joined the newsroom in 2026 after also covering politics for the Bangor Daily News for about two and a half years. Before moving to Maine in 2023, the Wisconsin. [More by Billy Kobin](https://www.pressherald.com/author/billy-kobin)