132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1148		LR 834(01)
	An Act to Improve Access to Absentee Ballots for Municipal Elections for Uniformed Service Voters and Overseas Voters
	Preliminary Fiscal Impact Statement for Original Bill
	Sponsor: Rep. Shagoury of Hallowell
	Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Preliminary Fiscal Impact Statement
			FY 2025-26	FY 2026-27	Projections  FY 2027-28	Projections  FY 2028-29
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		$1,558,869	$1,165,525	$1,385,119	$1,216,109
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		$1,558,869	$1,165,525	$1,385,119	$1,216,109
State Mandates
	Required Activity				Unit Affected	Local Cost
	Requires municipalities to provide copies of local ballots to the Secretary of State for all municipal elections to be held on the same date as statewide elections. The bill also requires that applications or requests for absentee ballots for uniformed service voters or overseas voters for any municipal election that is to be held on the same date as a statewide election for which uniformed service voters or overseas voters are eligible is valid for 18 months, as is currently provided for all federal and state elections.				Municipality	Moderate statewide
	The required local activities in this bill may represent a state mandate pursuant to the Constitution of Maine. If the bill does require a local unit of government to expand or modify its activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenue, the state mandate provisions of the Constitution of Maine require either: (1) General Fund appropriations be provided to fund at least 90% of any additional necessitated local costs of the mandate; or (2) a Mandate Preamble be added to the bill and two-thirds of the members of each House vote to exempt the mandate from the funding requirement. If the bill does represent a state mandate and neither one of these actions occurs, the local units of government will not be required to implement the mandated activities.
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	The Department of Secretary of State will quire General Fund appropriations of $1,558,869 in fiscal year 2025-26 and $1,165,525 in fiscal year 2026-27 for one Public Service Manager I position, 4 Public Service Coordinator I positions, rent, ballot printing and other costs to receive local ballots from municipalities and issue those ballots to uniformed service voters and overseas voters.