With little less than a month remaining until Maine and the country go to vote for the next leader of the United States, an important milestone has been reached at a local level.

In a way, voting has started.

Absentee ballots, which are available from now to November 1, can be submitted until 8 p.m. on November 6. 

With one month to go until the general election, Boothbay Harbor Town Clerk Michelle Farnham said she expects to see an uptick in requests for ballots due to the presidential election.

After the absentee ballots are collected, they are kept in a safe at the town office until the day before the election, when they are compared against a list of residents, but not tallied, Farnham said.

The process for counting absentee ballots involves reading aloud the names on the envelopes and checking those names off a list of residents. After that, the ballots are taken and counted through the counting machine, Farnham said.

There are several ways to acquire absentee ballots, including calling the town offices at 633-3671, going to www.maine.gov, or just by stopping into the offices at 11 Howard St. in Boothbay Harbor.

Boothbay Register, Wiscasset Newspaper go live election night

The Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspaper will cover the election in real time this year. 

Check the websites frequently for town-by-town results and voting totals.

Find out how to vote in the Boothbay Region

Ben Bulkeley can be reached at 633-4620 or bbulkeley@boothbayregister.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BBRegisterBen.