Last month, a civic health report was published by the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs at Colby College, Public Engagement Partners and the Maine Community Foundation. The report outlined how the people of Maine feel about the political system, their participation and their confidence in its integrity. This analysis will examine the report’s findings and highlight possible solutions to improve the civic health of our state. Broadly speaking, the study found Maine’s civic health to be well above the national average, but also noted growing polarization and a decline in trust amongst Mainers.
In terms of civic trust, the report found that the more local a government is, the more likely Mainers are to trust that government. At the local level, 51% of Mainers believe that the government “almost always or mostly” tries to do “what is right”. At the state level, support drops to 37% and at the national level, trust in government to do what is right is a mere 17%. Notably, 47% of Mainers “rarely or never trust” the national government.
The study also measured how Mainers trust other people in their community, finding that trust is high at the local level (59%) and statewide level (55%) and lower on the national level (30%). On all three metrics, older, higher-income Mainers were the most trusting demographics. Democrats were also found to be more trusting than either Republicans or Independents.
Civic engagement in Maine is ranked substantially higher than the national average both in voting and in political engagement such as contacting representatives and paying attention to current events, among other items.
However, the most notable dynamic the study found is that a sizeable minority of Republicans (44%) and Independents (45%) have trust in the outcome of the next election. Democrats, by contrast, overwhelmingly (88%) have confidence in the accuracy of the upcoming election. Taken as a whole, 60% of Mainers expressed confidence, “that the upcoming presidential election will be counted accurately,” while 35% did not.
To improve civic health and public confidence, the study made several recommendations including increasing civic education in high schools/community colleges, building more civic infrastructure, improving government transparency, and conducting research into the origins of Mainers’ distrust regarding the upcoming election.
In addition to these solutions, one possible remedy to address growing electoral disillusionment from Republicans and Independents, should this stem from perceived voting system vulnerabilities, would be implementing a voter ID law. Voter ID laws are widely favored by voters across the political spectrum.
In a January 2023 study conducted by the Center for Election Innovation and Research, when asked what measures would improve confidence in elections, 86% of Republicans, 80% of Independents and 70% of Democrats would feel more confident about our elections if voter ID was implemented.
It’s important to note this study was conducted nationally, where many states do have voter ID laws. It is also important to note there is no evidence that American elections have been decided because of fraud. Much of the electoral distrust seen today can be laid at the feet of politicians who have unilaterally rejected the results of elections they do not like, with the most prominent offender being former President Donald Trump.
Democracies cannot function if the public does not believe them to be legitimate. Even if elections are perfectly secure, this means little if the people do not think they are. For this reason, implementing voter ID laws in Maine could go a long way towards assuring skeptical Mainers that the electoral process is fair and legitimate.
For those concerned that voter ID would suppress voting, there is evidence to suggest this is not the case regarding turnout. Furthermore, voter ID laws come in many forms and could be specifically crafted to be widely accessible. Fears over voter ID oftentimes stem from concerns that it could amount to a “poll tax.” Such concerns are legitimate in specific cases (such as requiring ID without providing financial assistance for those who can’t afford it), but are not necessarily applicable to voter ID as a concept.
Perhaps the biggest concern – how voter ID laws would affect the most vulnerable in society – could be remedied in several ways. For instance, voter ID could easily be combined with extensive and expanded early voting (which Maine has) and same day voter registration (which Maine also has), creating a reasonable and accessible criteria for what types of ID qualify, and, of course, providing IDs free of charge. This step does not reduce turnout, has the potential to greatly increase voter confidence and it’s favored by the vast majority of Americans.
Ultimately, although Maine should be proud of its current civic health, there is room for improvement through more transparency, increasing civic education and eliminating the perception of fraud through measures such as voter ID.
Connor Feeney, of South Portland, currently serves as a policy intern at Maine Policy. Connor is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Southern Maine studying political science and economics, and is expected to graduate in December 2024.