2016 Caucus held next weekend - By Rep. Patrick Corey

On Saturday, March 5 Lakes Region Republicans will have a chance to weigh in on who will be the GOP nominee for President of the United States. Please note that Maine does not hold a presidential primary and the caucus is your only chance to vote for a candidate to represent the party in the November election. You will have a chance to cast ballots in the Maine Presidential Nominating Caucus and join fellow local Republicans in municipal caucuses where you will be able to meet local candidates for Maine House and Senate, as well as nominate people to attend the State Republican Convention on April 22-23 in Bangor. 
 

Three of these regional caucuses will take place in Cumberland County and each one has a list of participating towns. For the Lakes Region Caucus the participating towns are Baldwin, Bridgton, Casco, Frye Island, Gray, Harrison, Naples, Raymond, Sebago, Standish and Windham. Residents of these towns must attend this regional caucus to participate. It will take place at Windham Middle School at 408 Gray Road in Windham. The event kicks off at 8 a.m. with a schedule that you need to be aware of.

At 8:30 a.m. registration for new voters and for those who wish to change their enrollment from unenrolled to Republican begins. It is also possible to do this at your municipal office prior to March 5. Democrats that wanted to enroll as Republican would have had to do so prior to February 19 to participate in the March 5 Republican caucuses.

At 9:30 a.m. voter registration ends and the municipal caucuses begin. At this time you are also free to cast your ballot in the Maine Presidential Nominating Caucus. Photo IDs will be required to vote in the Presidential Nominating Caucus. It’s important to attend your municipal caucuses to meet local candidates for the Maine House and Senate, sign petitions to get those candidates on the ballot, and learn how you can get involved in their campaigns. There will also be the election of delegates and alternates to the State Convention, nominating County Committee members, and in some cases electing municipal committee officers. 

At 10:30 a.m. presidential candidates and their surrogates—supporters and candidate family members—will be giving speeches. Should other speakers be present who are running for national or county-wide office, they will be given an opportunity to deliver their messages.

From there, voting will continue until 12:30 p.m. Any additional municipal caucus business will continue once speeches end.

For those who wish to attend the Democratic Caucus, they are scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 6 at various times and places in each municipality.

I hope you use this opportunity to cast your ballot in the Maine Presidential Nominating Caucus and to get involved in national, state, and local races.