Election Day may still be less than two weeks away, but many Mainers have already cast their votes, either by absentee or at in-person early voting places offered by some communities.

On Monday, the City of Lewiston announced that on Oct. 21, the city’s early voting location at city hall recorded its 500th voter for the season. The polling location will be open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Nov. 3

Augusta City Clerk Alisha Ballard also reported early voter turnout. So far, she said this week there had been a total of 1,967 votes cast, with just over 800 of those in person.

In Bangor, City Clerk Lisa Goodwin said she has already recorded 549 in-person votes and issued a total of 4,408 absentee ballots.

“We are slightly ahead of numbers from previous elections at this point in the process but in line with what we expected since the pandemic,” she said.

In York County, Sanford City Clerk Sue Cote said she has issued 2,400 absentee ballots and received 1,400 as of Oct. 27. She said 318 people have voted in person already. 

Cote said there were a high number of absentee voters in 2020, with 6,595 ballots cast. During the 2018 gubernatorial election she recorded 1,612 absentee votes, but in what she called the “odd” years of 2021 and 2019 numbers were lower, with 1,141 absentee votes in 2021 and 353 in 2019.