Onsite Research Visits

We've moved back to the Cultural Building! The Archives is open Monday-Friday 9-4 PM.   It is a non-circulating, closed-stacks facility and researchers must make an appointment at least 1 week in advance to allow time for material to be retrieved from storage.  Researchers may request up to 8 records boxes (or 16 Hollinger boxes) prior to their visit. Once onsite, researchers may request additional boxes if they do so by 11:00 AM; those boxes will be available by 1 PM.

The Department of the Secretary of State touches the lives of virtually every Maine resident. From safeguarding the original Maine State Constitution and preserving millions of precious historic documents, to conducting state elections and testing motor vehicle operators, the broad array of Department functions is unusual and interesting.

Do you want to set a $5,000 limit for giving to groups that spend money independently to support or defeat candidates for office?

Do you want to require vehicle manufacturers to standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide access to those systems and mechanical data to owners and independent repair facilities?

Do you want to bar some kinds of quasi-governmental entities and consumer-owned utilities from taking on more than $1 billion in debt unless they get voter approval?

Some body text explaining the rule.

The Secretary of State is seeking public comment on the content and form of the proposed ballot question for the citizen initiative entitled “An Act To Prohibit Campaign Spending by Foreign Governments and Promote an Anticorruption Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Proposed Ballot Question:

Do you want to ban foreign governments and entities that they own, control, or influence from making campaign contributions or financing communications for or against candidates or ballot questions?