Brian Duff interviewed in Maine Sunday Telegram on the effects of early voting on the Maine gubernatorial campaign

Brian Duff, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, was interviewed for a news story that appeared in the Maine Sunday Telegram Nov. 14, 2010 on independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler's close loss to GOP governor-elect Paul Lepage on Nov. 2nd. Cutler saw a surge of support in the last week of the campaign, losing to Lepage by less than 10,000 votes. Of the approximately 563,000 votes cast in the gubernatorial election, about 140,000 were absentee ballots cast before election day. Because many voters don't make up their minds until late in an election season, early voting deprives the body politic of an informed electorate, Cutler said. 

Absentee voting likely did hurt Cutler because many on the left were voting strategically to keep LePage out of office, according to Duff. Many absentee votes had already been cast by the time undecideds swept toward Cutler toward the end of the campaign, Duff added. "If what you're interested in is the democratic ideal of the fully informed voter, there are a number of things you can do to promote that. Outlawing absentee voting I'd put 15th or 16th on that list," Duff said. As an example, he cited an English parliamentary election that is being revoted because the winner lied about an opponent in a TV ad. "That's a real reform."

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