Maine Question 2, Transportation Infrastructure Bond Issue (2021)

Maine Question 2
Election date November 2, 2021
Topic Bond issues and Transportation
Status a Approved
Type Bond issue	Origin State Legislature

2021 measures
November 2
Maine Question 1
Maine Question 2
Maine Question 3
Polls
Voter guides
Campaign finance
Signature costs

Maine Question 2, the Transportation Infrastructure Bond Issue, was on the ballot in Maine as a legislatively referred bond question on November 2, 2021. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported $100 million in general obligation bonds for transportation infrastructure projects, with $85 million for highways and bridges and $15 million for rail, aviation, ports, and active transportation.

A "no" vote opposed $100 million in general obligation bonds for transportation infrastructure projects, with $85 million for highways and bridges and $15 million for rail, aviation, ports, and active transportation.

Election results

Maine Question 2
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		296,478	71.97%
No		115,481	28.03%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What was the bond measure designed to provide money for?

Question 2 authorized $100 million in general obligation bonds for transportation infrastructure projects, including:

• $85 million for the construction, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of Priority 1, Priority 2, and Priority 3 highways, as well as bridges and
• $15 million for facilities or equipment related to transit, freight and passenger railroads, aviation, ports and harbors, marine transportation, and active transportation projects.

According to Question 2, the bond issue was designed to leverage an estimated $253 million in federal and non-state funding through matching grants and programs

The bond issue had an estimated cost of $127.5 million—the $100 million in principle and, assuming a 5% interest rate over 10 years, $27.5 million in interest. Bonds are repaid through state revenue sources.

What were recent bond measures on the ballot in Maine?

See also: Background

Voters cast ballots on 41 bond issues, totaling $1.55 billion in value, between January 1, 2007, and January 1, 2021. All but one bond issue question was approved. This 2021 bond measure was designed to issue bonds related to transportation projects. There were 11 other bond issues addressing transportation on the ballot during the 14 previous years. All 11 of them were approved, issuing a combined total of $989.53 million in bonds.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title was as follows:

“

Do you favor a $100,000,000 bond issue to build or improve roads, bridges, railroads, airports, transit facilities and ports and make other transportation investments, to be used to leverage an estimated $253,000,000 in federal and other funds?

”

Full text

The full text of the bond measure is below:

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2021

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The Maine State Legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 18, and the FRE is 29. The word count for the ballot title is 35, and the estimated reading time is 9 seconds.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Maine ballot measures

Ballotpedia did not identify ballot measure committees registered to support or oppose the ballot measure.

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Media editorials

See also: 2021 ballot measure media endorsements

Support

• Bangor Daily News Editorial Board: "Voters should approve this bond, but they should also expect their elected leaders to agree on additional and better ways of paying for the big backlog of construction projects instead of turning to them to approve a $100 million bond every year."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not identify media editorial board endorsements in support of a "No" vote on Question 2.

Background

Bond issues on the ballot in Maine

See also: Bond issues on the ballot

Voters of Maine cast ballots on 41 bond issues, totaling $1.55 billion ($1,547,925,000) in value, from January 1, 2007, through January 1, 2021. Voters approved 40 of 41 bond issues (97.6 percent) between 2007 and 2021. The last bond measure to be rejected was Question 2 (2012), which would have authorized $11 million in bonds to expand the state's community college system.

The following table contains information on the 41 bond issues that appeared on the ballot in Maine between January 1, 2007, through January 1, 2021:
Note: Click "Show" to expand the table.

Year	Measure	Amount	Primary purpose	Outcome
2007 (June)	Question 1	$112,975,000	Transportation projects	a
2007 (June)	Question 2	$18,300,000	Water facilities	a
2007	Question 2	$55,000,000	Economic development	a
2007	Question 3	$43,500,000	Higher education	a
2007	Question 4	$35,500,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2008 (June)	Question 1	$29,725,000	Water facilities and transportation projects	a
2008	Question 3	$3,400,000	Water facilities	a
2009	Question 6	$71,250,000	Transportation projects	a
2010 (June)	Question 2	$26,500,000	Energy projects and higher education	a
2010 (June)	Question 3	$47,800,000	Transportation projects	a
2010 (June)	Question 4	$23,750,000	Economic development	a
2010 (June)	Question 5	$10,250,000	Water facilities	a
2010	Question 2	$5,000,000	Healthcare services	a
2010	Question 3	$9,750,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2012	Question 2	$11,300,000	Higher education	d
2012	Question 3	$5,000,000	Environmental conservation and recreation	a
2012	Question 4	$51,500,000	Transportation projects	a
2012	Question 5	$7,925,000	Water facilities	a
2013	Question 1	$14,000,000	Military facilities	a
2013	Question 2	$15,500,000	Higher education	a
2013	Question 3	$100,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2013	Question 4	$4,500,000	Higher education	a
2013	Question 5	$15,500,000	Higher education	a
2014	Question 2	$8,000,000	Agricultural research	a
2014	Question 3	$12,000,000	Economic development	a
2014	Question 4	$10,000,000	Healthcare research	a
2014	Question 5	$3,000,000	Healthcare research	a
2014	Question 6	$10,000,000	Water facilities and environmental conservation	a
2014	Question 7	$7,000,000	Economic development	a
2015	Question 2	$15,000,000	Housing projects	a
2015	Question 3	$85,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2016	Question 6	$100,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2017	Question 1	$50,000,000	Economic development	a
2017	Question 3	$105,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2018	Question 2	$30,000,000	Water facilities	a
2018	Question 3	$106,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2018	Question 4	$49,000,000	Higher education	a
2018	Question 5	$15,000,000	Higher education	a
2019	Question 1	$105,000,000	Transportation projects	a
2020	Question 1	$15,000,000	Internet infrastructure	a
2020	Question 2	$105,000,000	Transportation projects	a

Debt from voter-approved bonds

The state treasurer provided an overview of the state’s debt resulting from general obligation bonds, which included voter-approved bonds. A general obligation bond constitutes a public debt and is paid for through state funds. Section 14 of Article IX of the Maine Constitution requires that general obligation bonds exceeding $2 million be referred to the ballot for voter approval.

Maine had $589.67 million in debt from general obligation bonds in October 2021. About $166.13 million of voter-approved bonds from prior elections had not yet been issued for projects. The debt from general obligation bonds was the highest since at least 2005 (not accounting for inflation). In 2020, the general obligation bond debt was $572.7 million. The graph below provides an illustration of state debt from general obligation bonds and the annual amount of unissued bonds in millions of dollars between June 30, 2005, and October 30, 2021.

State highways classification

In 2011, legislation was enacted to require the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) to categorize the state's highways as Priority 1 to Priority 6 using factors such as the federal functional classification system, heavy haul truck use, regional economic significance, and regional traffic volumes.

The following table describes the different priority categories and is based on MaineDOT's highways management definitions and its 2021 asset inventory:

Classification	Miles (2021)	Percent of total miles (2021)	Percent of state traffic (2021)	Examples
Priority 1 Roads	1,873	8%	40%	"The Interstate and all other National Highway System (NHS) corridors, such as Brewer-Calais Route 9, Newport-Gilead Route 2, Houlton-Madawaska Route 1"
Priority 2 Roads	1,251	5%	18%	"High-priority, non-NHS systems, such as Caribou-Ft. Kent Route 161, Bangor-Greenville Route 15, Ellsworth-Eastport Route 1, Farmington to Rangeley Route 4"
Priority 3 Roads	1,257	5%	12%	"China-Hampden Route 202, Cornish-Fryburg Route 5, Lincoln-Topsfield Route 6, Baileyville to Houlton Route 1"
Priority 4 Roads	4,670	20%	17%	"Major/minor collectors not included above (including 3 miles of marine highway)"
Priority 6 Roads	14,446	61%	13%	"Local roads and streets"

Path to the ballot

See also: Legislatively-referred state statute

Section 14 of Article IX of the Maine Constitution requires that state general obligation bonds exceeding $2 million be referred to the ballot for voter approval. A two-thirds vote in both chambers of the Maine State Legislature is required to put bond issues before voters.

The bond measure was introduced into the Maine State Legislature as Legislative Document 1702 (LD 1702). On June 30, 2021, both chambers of the state Legislature approved LD 1702. The final vote exceeded the two-thirds requirement in the House, but a roll call was not recorded. In the Senate, the vote was 33 to 1. The one state senator to vote against LD 1702 was Matthew Pouliot (R-15).

On July 6, 2021, Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed LD 1702, placing the bond issue on the ballot for November 2, 2021.

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Maine

Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Maine.

How to cast a vote in Maine

Poll times In Maine, municipalities with a population of 500 or more open their polls between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., while municipalities with a population of less than 500 open their polls between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. All polls close at 8:00 p.m. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Registration Check your voter registration status here. To register to vote in Maine, one must be "a United States citizen, at least 16 years of age to pre-register to vote, and have established a fixed principal home in Maine. To vote in a Referendum or General Election, you must be registered in the community where you reside, and be at least 18 years of age. A 17 year old may vote in a Primary Election, if that person will be 18 by the General Election." Voters can return completed registration cards in person or by mail to their town office or city hall, any Motor Vehicle branch office, most state & federal social service agencies, or a voter registration drive. There is no deadline for voter registration if completed in person. If registering by mail or online, the deadline is 21 days prior to the election. If registering through a qualified state agency, the deadlines is seven days prior to the election. When registering for the first time in Maine, voters must provide documents verifying their identity and residence. The following documents are acceptable identification for the purpose of registering to vote: Government ID with a photo (i.e. driver’s license, State ID, valid U.S. Passport, military ID, ID card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe) Government ID without photo (i.e. certified birth certificate or signed Social Security card) Other official document showing the name and address of voter (i.e. eligibility for public benefits, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck) Student photo ID from a state-approved public or private school or institute of higher education in Maine Maine driver’s license number or last four digits of Social Security Number Automatic registration On June 19, 2019, Gov. Janet Mills signed an automatic voter registration bill into law that was scheduled for implementation in 2022. The law registers voters through the Department of Motor Vehicles. Online registration See also: Online voter registration Maine has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Governor Janet T. Mills (D) signed L.D. 1126 into law on July 9, 2021, allowing online voter registration in Maine. This legislation went into effect on November 1, 2023. Same-day registration Maine allows same-day voter registration. Residency requirements To register to vote in Maine, you must be a resident of the state. State law does not specify a length of time for which you must have been a resident to be eligible. Verification of citizenship See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States Maine does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters. Verifying your registration The Maine voter information lookup service allows residents to check their voter registration status online. Voter ID requirements Maine does not require voters to present identification while voting. If a voter registers to vote on Election Day, he or she must provide identification and proof of residence.

See also

2021 measures

• 2021 ballot measures
• Bond issues on the ballot
• Transportation on the ballot

Maine

• Maine ballot measures
• Maine ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls