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Show "THE MAINE BAROMETER" Maine holds her elections in September instead of in November No-vember as do all of the rest of the states. At one time each state held its elections on whatever date it desired. This practice created confusion and led to considerable fraud and dishonesty, occasioned by voters voting in two or more states. Congress finally enacted a law which fixed the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the date for election of federal officers. The law exempted those state's which had their election date set by state constitutions. Three states came under this exemption Arkansas, Maine and Oregon. Arkansas and Oregon soon changed their constitutions con-stitutions and established the November date. Maine has never made the change. Due to the early date of the election in Maine the expression has come in use, "As Maine goes, so goes the nation." Maine results usually affect the morale ol party leaders, though as evidence that the saying is not always al-ways borne out, the nation has gone Democratic on five occasions oc-casions since 1876, while Maine has gone Democratic on only one occasion since 1876, in 1912. r ... |