Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap encourages all Maine voters to review the Citizen's Guide to the Referendum Election and reminds voters that the deadline to request an absentee ballot for the November 5, 2013 Referendum Election, pursuant to state election law, Title 21-A section 753-B, subsection 2, is Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. 

Except in special circumstances allowed by law, voters must request their absentee ballots by the close of business on the Thursday prior to an election. This includes requests to vote the ballot in the presence of the Municipal Clerk.

After this deadline, a voter may request an absentee ballot only if he/she completes a Special Circumstances Application and indicates one of four allowable reasons to request an absentee ballot after deadline.

The deadline for returning voted absentee ballots has not changed; ballots can be returned until 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 5, 2013.

The Online Absentee Ballot Request Service is available at: www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl.  The Citizen's Guide to the Referendum Election can be found at: www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming.html.