Lawmakers on Monday will delve into whether Maine should be a caucus or primary state, a debate that regained urgency after some voters waited hours to participate in their party’s presidential caucuses this month.

A legislative committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing Monday on a bill seeking to drop Maine’s traditional, town meeting-style caucuses in favor of presidential primaries in which voters cast ballots just like during general elections. Although primary election proposals have failed in the past, most recently in 2012, this year’s version is co-sponsored by nearly half of the Legislature’s membership and has support on both sides of the aisle.

“Most people like aspects of the caucus system but recognize that … we don’t (want) to be part of a system that is disenfranchising voters, and that is what happened,” said Senate Minority Leader Justin Alfond, D-Portland.

As one of Portland’s Democratic state senators, Alfond had a front-row seat to the downside of the caucus system. Voters waited as long as four hours outside of Portland’s only Democratic caucus site at Deering High School on a sunny but blustery Sunday in early March. Overwhelmed by the 4,000-plus people in a line that stretched more than a half-mile around the school grounds, caucus organizers were forced to allow people to cast absentee ballots rather than participate in the hours-long caucus process.

Even so, an untold number of people left without voting – either unable or unwilling to stand in line for so long – and the city’s Democratic leaders were criticized for the disorganization. Other caucus sites, both Democratic and Republican, reported long lines and crowded rooms during the events.

Alfond announced plans to submit a late-session bill proposing the caucus-to-primary switch even before everyone in line had finished casting their ballots.

“If we are trying to ensure that Mainers continue to engage and vote and be involved in their parties, then I think we have to have a conversation about adapting to the times,” Alfond said.

Maine is among the minority of states that hold presidential caucuses, where party faithful gather in town halls or schools for several hours to listen to speeches before grouping together based on their allegiance to a particular candidate. But most states hold primaries in which voters cast secret ballots.

Alfond’s bill, L.D. 1673, proposes a “closed primary” system in which only voters registered with that party – or voters who switch from “unenrolled” status that day – can cast ballots. Some state’s hold “open primaries” in which any registered voters can participate.

If approved by the Legislature – which is far from guaranteed, given the current political dynamics in Augusta – this wouldn’t be Maine’s first venture into the realm of primary elections during election years.

The state experimented with presidential primaries in 1996 and 2000. In both years, the primary elections drew significantly more voters than the record 18,000 Republicans and 46,000 Democrats who participated in this year’s party caucuses.

But in 2003, the Legislature approved a bill switching back to caucuses largely at the behest of the political parties, which view caucuses as valuable organizational and voter engagement events. Legislative records show that no one testified against the bill in committee.

Another key difference between caucuses and primaries is who foots the bill.

Currently, Maine’s political parties pay for and organize their respective presidential caucuses, which were held on consecutive days this year. But because the primary model is more like a typical election, the state of Maine would pay for the process, according to Alfond’s bill.

A spokeswoman for the Maine Secretary of State’s Office said earlier this month that primaries would likely cost at least $75,000 to run today.

Alfond’s bill has already picked up the support of the leaders of the House and Senate Republican caucuses – including Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport – and from some Democratic leaders in the Maine House. Gov. Paul LePage has yet to endorse the bill, but he supported the last attempt to switch from caucuses to primaries in 2012.

The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee’s public hearing on L.D. 1673 is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Monday in Room 437 of the State House.