Elector Jay Philbrick of North Yarmouth hands ballots to Electoral College Secretary Abby Wormell on Monday in the Maine House chamber. Maine and other states affirmed the election of Joe Biden as president Monday. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal
AUGUSTA — Maine’s four presidential electors formally cast their their tallies on Monday, awarding three votes to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and one for current Republican President Trump.
Maine’s electors divided their votes just as they did in 2016 when Trump also collected a single vote in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
Maine and Nebraska are the only states that divide electoral votes. The rest of the states use a winner-takes-all approach.
Republican elector Peter LaVerdiere, of Oxford, said his vote was bittersweet because he thinks Trump, not Biden, won the election.
Elector-at-large Shenna Bellows of Manchester speaks Monday with page Bruce Hall while voting to affirm the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal
LaVerdiere, a Republican state committee member, former selectman and retired financial planner, believes the vote was “crooked, illegal and unconstitutional” in other states on which the election’s outcome hinged such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
“There are more ballots out there that are bogus ballots than you can shake a stick at,” he said.
LaVerdiere served as a poll worker and trusts that Maine’s vote was accurate. Courts and election officials across the country have found no evidence of widespread election fraud, despite repeated baseless claims by Trump and his supporters that the election should be overturned.
Another presidential elector, Democrat David Bright, took exception to those “who would defame and disrupt this nation’s election system.”
“This behavior borders on sedition. It must be stopped, and certainly must not be condoned by people holding public office,” he said.
The formal vote by the electors took place in a small ceremony with a limited number of observers in the House chamber of the Maine Statehouse. Members of the public were not allowed because of the pandemic.
Joining Bright as Democratic electors for Biden on Monday were 18-year-old Brown University freshman Jay Philbrick, of North Yarmouth, along with state Sen. Shenna Bellows, of Manchester.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.