Voters cast their ballots in early October at Lewiston City Hall. Thursday is the last day residents can vote early in-person or request an absentee ballot for the Nov. 5 presidential election. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — As Thursday marks the last chance for early voting or obtaining an absentee ballot, election officials in the Twin Cities say they’ve seen considerable turnout already.

As of Wednesday in Lewiston, 7,671 absentee ballots had been issued, which means a quarter of registered voters in Lewiston have either voted early or requested an absentee ballot. According to City Clerk Kathy Montejo, 6,706 have been returned, or roughly 87%.

Montejo said those are the highest numbers for any past election other than the 2020 presidential election, which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Absentee voting ends statewide Thursday, meaning it’s the last day early voting is available and the last day voters can obtain an absentee ballot. Lewiston City Hall closes at 4 p.m. Thursday. Ballots can be returned up until polls close on Election Day.

Early voting has been an increasingly popular choice for voters, which gives the flexibility of casting a ballot often without long Election Day lines or potential time or scheduling conflicts.

Mayor Carl Sheline said Wednesday that anecdotally he’s seen a lot of people voting early at City Hall or stopping to ask him where early voting is taking place.

The city held extended hours until 7 p.m. Tuesday during National Vote Early Day, during which Montejo said 516 people voted.

In Auburn, the number of registered voters who have voted early or requested an absentee ballot is even larger — roughly one-third of voters, or 32.8%.

“We have seen a steady absentee voter turnout, particularly this week for the last week of absentee voting, with many opting to vote right here in person at Auburn Hall,” City Clerk Emily Carrington said.

Like Lewiston, Auburn held extended hours Tuesday and issued 456 ballots in that time, with the majority of those being in-person voters.

Carrington said she anticipated around 6,000 absentee ballots for this election, and the 5,800 issued so far is in line with that forecast. She said she’s also anticipating a heavy turnout at polling places on Election Day.

“In 2016 and 2020, the last two presidential elections, the total number of people who voted in Auburn averaged around 12,000 – and I think we’re right on target to hit that again, if not more,” she said.

As of Wednesday, Auburn has 17,669 total registered voters.

As early voting comes to a close, the clerks will continue preparations for next Tuesday — conducting training sessions, and trying to spread the word about information that could make Election Day more efficient for voters.

Montejo said they are encouraging voters to look up their polling location ahead of time to ensure they know where they’re going. The presidential election will be the seventh election in Lewiston in the past 12 months — due in part to the mayoral runoff and several school budget votes — but in those elections the polling locations were consolidated to a single location at the Longley School.

“On Tuesday, their regular polling places are open so we want to make sure that folks are aware of that and where their regular polling place is,” Montejo said.

Voters can call the clerk’s office at 513-3124 or look it up online with an address.

Montejo also urged voters to look at the city website to see sample ballots in advance of voting, which she said “will help them be more efficient in the booth and have a faster turnaround time to help the line move along.”

The clerks will also be organizing hundreds of volunteers across the two cities to work the polls on Election Day.

With heightened scrutiny of election workers and procedures in recent years, Montejo asked voters to keep in mind that the people running the polls are citizen election workers — often seniors who are citizens of the same city.

We hire about 150 residents to work at the polls, and they are operating the election for their fellow community members,” Montejo said. “All of them are Lewiston residents. We ask the voters to please have some extra patience when voting, the workers are trying the best they can.”

The cities also employ an equal number of Democrats and Republicans to work the polls.

As of the July school budget referendum, there were 29,582 registered voters in Lewiston. Montejo said as of Wednesday there were 30,538. Of those, roughly 12,000 are registered Democrats, 6,100 Republicans, 1,300 Green Party, 700 Libertarian, 700 No Labels and 9,200 unenrolled.