Sections
Article 1 Voting Machines 811 – 830
Article 2 Electronic Tabulating Systems 842 – 861
§ 808 Definitions
§ 809 Approval of voting devices
§ 809-A Certain electronic connections and Internet voting prohibited

Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes > Title 21-A > Chapter 9 > Subchapter 6 - Voting Devices

  • Accessible voting system: means a voting system that is accessible for individuals with disabilities, including nonvisual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation, including privacy and independence, as for other voters. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Adult: means a person who has attained the age of 18 years. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Any election: means primary and general elections and referenda, whether regular or special. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Articles: means the articles of incorporation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 13 Sec. 1774
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Association: means a corporation organized under this subchapter, or a similar domestic corporation, or a foreign association or corporation if authorized to do business in this State, organized under any general or special Act as a cooperative association for the mutual benefit of its members, as agricultural producers, and which confines its operations to purposes authorized by this subchapter and restricts the return on the stock or membership capital and the amount of its business with nonmembers to the limits placed thereon by this subchapter for associations organized hereunder. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 13 Sec. 1774
  • Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
  • Automatic tabulating equipment: means any apparatus that automatically examines and counts votes recorded on paper ballots and tabulates the results. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Ballot labels: means the pages, cards or other material containing the names of offices and candidates and the referendum questions to be voted on that are placed on the voting device to conform with the voting system in use. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Bequest: Property gifted by will.
  • Block group: means an area comprising all of the blocks within a tract or BNA whose census data labels begin with the same digit. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1202
  • Buyer: means a person who buys or contracts to buy goods. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 11 Sec. 2-103
  • Candidate: means any person who has filed a petition under either sections 335 and 336 or sections 354 and 355 and has qualified as a candidate by either procedure, or any person who has received contributions or made expenditures or has given consent for any other person to receive contributions or make expenditures with the intent of qualifying as a candidate. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Capital grant: means a grant award from the fund pursuant to section 6208 to cover eligible costs for a capital grant as specified in subsection 5, paragraph C. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Contract for sale: includes both a present sale of goods and a contract to sell goods at a future time. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 11 Sec. 2-106
  • Cooperative services grant: means a grant award from the fund pursuant to section 6208 to cover eligible costs for a cooperative services grant as specified in subsection 5, paragraph B. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Counting center: means one or more locations selected by the municipal officers for the automatic counting of ballots. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Declared write-in candidate: means a write-in candidate who has filed a declaration to be a write-in candidate pursuant to section 722?A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Department: means any department, commission, institution or agency of State Government including the Maine Community College System. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 5 Sec. 17001
  • Department: means the Department of Economic and Community Development. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Direct recording electronic voting machine: means a system that records votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical, electro-optical or electro-audio components that can be activated by the voter, that processes data by means of a computer program and that records voting data in memory components. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Domestic partner: means one of 2 unmarried adults who are domiciled together under long-term arrangements that evidence a commitment to remain responsible indefinitely for each other's welfare. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Earnable compensation: includes :
    (1) Workers' compensation benefits;
    (2) Maintenance, if any;
    (3) Any money paid by an employer to a 3rd party under a tax sheltered annuity contract or a deferred compensation plan for the future benefit of an employee provided that the money is not derived from amounts excluded from earnable compensation by paragraph B; and
    (4) Pick-up contributions. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 5 Sec. 17001
  • Election official: means a warden, ward clerk, deputy warden or election clerk. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Electronic tabulating system: includes all the software and firmware required to program and control the equipment in the respective system. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Eligible applicant: means a municipality, county or regional government subdivision. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Employee: means :
A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 5 Sec. 17001
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Foreign association: means an association or corporation not formed under the laws of this State. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 13 Sec. 1774
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Fund: means the Fund for the Efficient Delivery of Local and Regional Services established by section 6202. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • health insurance: means insurance of human beings against bodily injury, disablement or death by accident or accidental means, or the expense thereof, or against disablement or expense resulting from sickness, and every insurance appertaining thereto, including provision for the mental and emotional welfare of human beings by defraying the costs of legal services only to the extent provided for in chapter 38. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 704
  • Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
  • in writing: include printing and other modes of making legible words. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Incoming voting list: means the printed list of all of the voters in a municipality that is used by election officials at a voting place to record which voters have been issued a ballot at an election. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
  • Inhabitant: means a person having an established residence in a place. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • lands: includes lands and all tenements and hereditaments connected therewith, and all rights thereto and interests therein. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Majority: when used in reference to age shall mean the age of 18 and over. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Marital deduction: The deduction(s) that can be taken in the determination of gift and estate tax liabilities because of the existence of a marriage or marital relationship.
  • Mark-sense voting system: means a system in which votes are recorded on paper ballots by making marks in special voting response locations using a marking device. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Marking device: means any special marking implements or fluorescent or opaque inks that are required for marking paper ballots, depending on the type of system in use. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • may: when used in this Title, is used in a permissive sense to grant authority or permission, but not to create duty, to act in the manner specified by the context. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 7
  • Mechanical lever voting machine: means a machine that directly records a voter's choices via mechanical lever-actuated controls into a counting mechanism that tallies the votes without using a physical ballot. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
  • municipal clerk: means the clerk, deputy clerk or assistant clerk, where directed by the clerk to carry out duties under this Title, of a municipality. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Municipal officers: means the mayor and aldermen or councillors of a city, the members of the select board or councillors of a town and the assessors of a plantation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Municipal officers: means :
    • A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001
  • Municipality: means a city, town or plantation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Municipality: includes cities, towns and plantations, except that "municipality" does not include plantations in Title 10, chapter 110, subchapter IV; or Title 30?A, Part 2. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Municipality: means a city or town, except as provided in chapter 225. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001
  • National Association of Insurance Commissioners: means the National Association of Insurance Commissioners or its successor organization of insurance regulators. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 15
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Official tally tape: means the first tape produced by an electronic tabulating machine that tallies the final vote totals at the conclusion of voting and that is attached to the zero tape produced by the machine prior to the start of voting. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • paper ballot: means the printed paper ballot on which votes may be recorded in the layout and format required to conform to the electronic voting system in use. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Party: means a political organization which has qualified to participate in a primary or general election under chapter 5. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Person: includes an individual, a partnership, a corporation and an association. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 13 Sec. 1774
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Pick-up contributions: means member contributions to the retirement system which are assumed and paid by the employer through a reduction of members' salaries for services rendered, in accordance with the United States Internal Revenue Code, Section 414(h), in lieu of employee contributions. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 5 Sec. 17001
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Planning grant: means a grant award from the fund pursuant to section 6208 to cover eligible costs of developing a qualifying project for a cooperative services grant. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Population: means the population determined by the last Decennial Census of the United States. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
  • Primary election: means the regular election for the election of nominees of a party for the general election. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Public counter: means a separate counter built into a voting device that records the total number of ballots cast or tabulated on the voting device for an election. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • Punch card voting machine: means a machine that transmits a voter's choices onto either a prescored or unscored ballot via mechanically punched holes that are then read and tallied by the machine. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Qualifying project: means a project designed to achieve significant and sustainable savings in the cost of delivering local and regional governmental services that reduces the demand for property tax revenues through collaborative approaches to service delivery, enhanced regional delivery systems, consolidated administrative services, broad-based purchasing alliances and interlocal agreements. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Question: means any proposition submitted to the voters. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Real estate: includes lands and all tenements and hereditaments connected therewith, and all rights thereto and interests therein. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Referendum: means an election for the determination of a question. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Regional government subdivision: means :
    • A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 6201
  • Register: means to enlist as a voter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Residence: means that place where the person has established a fixed and principal home to which the person, whenever temporarily absent, intends to return. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Residence address: means the street and number or other designation indicating the physical location of a person's residence. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Retirement: means termination of membership with a retirement allowance granted under this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 5 Sec. 17001
  • Revocable trust: A trust agreement that can be canceled, rescinded, revoked, or repealed by the grantor (person who establishes the trust).
  • Seller: means a person who sells or contracts to sell goods. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 11 Sec. 2-103
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Teacher: includes a person who is on a one-year leave of absence from a position as a teacher and is participating in the education of prospective teachers by teaching and supervising students enrolled in college-level teacher preparation programs in this State. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 5 Sec. 17001
  • This subchapter: means the "Uniform Agricultural Cooperative Association Act. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 13 Sec. 1774
  • Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
  • Town: includes cities and plantations, unless otherwise expressed or implied. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Tract: means that area composed of blocks or block groups that is defined as a tract in the United States Census for 1990. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1202
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. Source: OCC
  • Uniformed service: means the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, the commissioned corps of the United States Public Health Service and the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • United States: includes territories and the District of Columbia. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
  • Voter: means a person registered to vote. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Voting device: means the voting machine or electronic tabulating system apparatus that the voters use to record their votes on paper ballots or on a tabulating card. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Voting district: means an area set off from another in the same municipality for voting purposes. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Voting machine: means an apparatus on which voters cast their votes that records each vote by means of mechanical or electronic counters and furnishes a total of the number of votes cast for each candidate and for and against each referendum measure. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Voting place: means the building in which ballots are cast at an election. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Voting system: means the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical or electronic equipment, including the software, firmware and documentation required to program, control and support the equipment, that is used to define or produce ballots, to cast and count votes, to report or display election results and to maintain and produce any audit trail information. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 808
  • Warden: means the presiding officer at a voting place. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Write-in candidate: means a person whose name does not appear on the ballot under the office designation to which a voter may wish to elect the candidate. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 21-A Sec. 1
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72