Here’s a look at what’s on the ballot in Waldo County this November. For information on how and where to vote, see our resources page. If you have questions about the upcoming election, please contact your town clerk.
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County races
In Waldo County, the following county offices are elected: Judge of Probate, Register of Probate, County Treasurer, Register of Deeds, Sheriff, County Commissioner (three seats), and District Attorney. You can read about what each of these offices do by clicking the dropdowns below.
County commissioners are elected to oversee county government operations in each of Maine’s 16 counties, from the budget to the county jail to emergency management services. In recent years, they have been responsible for distributing millions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act and opioid settlement funds.
Counties have either three, five or seven commissioners, each of whom serves a separate district within the county. This year, Franklin County is expanding from three to five commissioners to reflect its growing population.
Commissioners serve four-year terms. At least two county commissioners in each county are on the ballot this November. Of the 37 county commissioner seats up this year, only 15 are contested races.
The sheriff is the top law enforcement officer in the county, responsible for enforcing laws and ensuring public safety. The sheriff oversees the county jail, manages deputies and other staff, and works with other law enforcement agencies.
Duties include enforcing state and local laws, providing security for county courts, serving legal documents and executing warrants. A county sheriff can be either appointed or elected. This year, the sheriff position is up for election in Aroostook, Franklin, Kennebec and Sagadahoc counties.
There has been some concern over mental health training protocols within sheriff departments across the state in the wake of the Lewiston shooting.
Treasurers are the bookkeepers of a county’s finances: they manage county expenditures, ensuring funds are spent where directed by county commissioners, and provide annual reports on county revenues.
Androscoggin, Cumberland and Knox county commissioners all appoint their treasurers, while voters in the rest of Maine’s counties elect their treasurer every four years. Only the Waldo County treasurer is up for election this November.
County treasurers must be residents of their county but do not require any licenses or qualifications. This caused some controversy in 2018, when Hancock County elected a treasurer without finance experience.
Probate judges oversee wills, estates, name changes and guardianships of adults and minors. They must be attorneys and are elected to four-year terms. Maine’s probate courts operate independently in each county, and the judges are generally part-time elected officials.
Probate judges handle disputes related to wills and estates, approve the appointment of guardians (who have the authority to make decisions for adults the court deems incapacitated), and hear cases related to trusts and adoptions.
Probate judges are up for reelection this year in nine counties: Aroostook, Kennebec, Lincoln, Oxford, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo and York.
Samantha Hogan’s Maine Monitor series on Maine’s probate courts, which won her a Livingston Award for Young Journalists, uncovered systemic problems. Among her findings were that the probate courts do not employ investigators to check on adults under guardianships or conduct financial audits, and that eight adults under public guardianship died in unexplained ways in three years.
A register of probate serves as the custodian and record-keeper for all documentation relating to wills, guardianships and conservatorships, adoptions, trusts and name changes filed with a county’s probate office.
Paramount among the register’s responsibilities is ensuring that all documents, from name-change petitions to the transfer of real estate dictated by a will, are properly recorded and submitted into the public record. Among the register’s other duties are to certify and record name changes and account for and report to the county treasurer all fees paid to the probate office.
This year, registers of probate are on the ballot in Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Oxford, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo and York counties.
The register of deeds is responsible for managing county property records: recording all documents and survey plans that affect property in the county as well as maintaining an index of buyers’ and sellers’ names.
Some countries are now providing fraud alerts as scams in which people attempt to sell or mortgage a property by impersonating an owner are growing.
The register of deeds is appointed in Androscoggin, Cumberland and Knox counties, and elected every four years in Maine’s other 13 counties. This year, only the Somerset register of deeds is on the ballot.
District attorneys are prosecutors that represent the government against people who have been charged with a crime, and are responsible for prosecuting the majority of criminal cases that occur within their districts (there’s an exception for murders, which are handled by the attorney general’s office).
After police charge an individual with a crime, the district attorney’s office determines whether there is enough evidence to bring a charge to court. Maine has a large backlog of criminal cases and is building a new network of public defender’s offices across the state to represent poor clients in cases brought by the district attorney’s offices.
All of the state’s eight district attorneys are elected to serve four-year terms and are up for reelection in 2026; none are on the ballot this year.
Here are the state’s eight prosecutorial districts and district attorneys:
First District — York: Kathryn Slattery
Second District — Cumberland: Jacqueline Sartoris
Third District — Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford: Neil McLean Jr.
Fourth District — Kennebec and Somerset: Maeghan Maloney
Fifth District — Penobscot and Piscataquis: Christopher Almy
Sixth District — Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, and Waldo: Natasha Irving
Seventh District — Hancock and Washington: Robert C. Granger
Eighth District — Aroostook: Todd Collins
This year, there are five county races on the ballot: judge of probate, county treasurer, two county commission seats and register of probate.
No Waldo county treasurer was elected in 2022. Gov. Janet Mills appointed a treasurer to serve until Dec. 31. The individual elected in November will only serve two years to fulfill the original term.
You can read about the candidates and see how they responded to our county office candidate survey by clicking on the races below.
Sharon W. Peavey, of Swanville, has worked for the county for more than three decades. She serves on the Advisory Committee on Probate Procedure Rules, which makes recommendations to the Supreme Judicial Court. Peavey is running unopposed.
Peavey did not respond to The Monitor’s survey.
Alan M. Cohen, of Winterport, does consulting work in the green building industry, focusing on pest prevention and less-toxic pest management. He is the president of BioLogical Pest Management, Inc. and the founder of Big Bluestem Farm in Winterport.
Cohen did not respond to The Monitor’s survey.
Kevin J. Kelley, of Winterport, is a health care consultant and recent chair of the Winterport Town Council. He is a member of the 1A Waldo County Broadband Coalition and also served on the town’s ambulance committee. He ran for state representative in 2022.
Kelley did not respond to The Monitor’s survey.
Elise S. Brown, of Liberty, is the co-owner and executive vice president of a residential weatherization contracting company. She is Liberty’s emergency management director and works with the town’s volunteer fire department, and also serves as the chair of the town’s budget committee.
Tell us a bit about your relevant experience for this position.
Starting in 1994, Elise served as a volunteer Liberty firefighter, fire chief, and as an emergency medical technician. She has been Liberty’s Emergency Management Director for 17 years and currently drives the ambulance for Liberty Fire and Rescue. She also worked as a professional firefighter and EMT for the City of Portland for seven years. Elise was a member of Liberty’s Budget Committee for seven years and its chair for four budget cycles. She has experience in grant-writing, raising funds for the town’s current fire station and its exercise room, as well as the local school’s greenhouse. Brown helped to prevent the loss of local emergency medical services by working with others to create a new EMS service to serve Liberty, Montville, and Palermo, reducing response time and increasing the level of service. At the Waldo County level, Elise has worked with the Emergency Management Agency, the Regional Communications Center, the Sheriff’s Office, and she volunteers at the Corrections department’s reentry center. Elise Brown co-owns a 40-employee residential weatherization contracting company, where she heads up the leadership team and is experienced in business budgets, leadership development and decision-making, information technology, human resources, and marketing.
Why should voters choose you?
My 30 years of experience serving residents as a first responder gives me broad knowledge about the needs of our communities. My decades of serving as a municipal public official and attending town select board and other meetings has provided me with a solid understanding of the challenges of government at the local level. And my years of engagement with Waldo County departments like the Sheriff’s Office, Corrections, Regional Communications, and Emergency Management give me the background to understand the vital roles they play and how they interact with local providers. I bring the leadership skills to the position that will help bring Waldo County people together to tackle complex issues. I take a practical approach and am friendly and welcoming to others. I keep a level head and like to get to the root of problem to find a way forward. I am ready and willing to do the hard work to help move Waldo County forward and from my years of involvement have built a diverse network of partnerships with people across the county. Lastly, my management experience as a business owner have prepared me to handle the budget and fiscal oversight duties in a responsible manner.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the office you are running for, and how do you plan on addressing it?
Waldo County, like most rural counties, is challenged by high levels of need and proportionately low levels of funding. For example, our Sheriff’s Office typically has fewer than a dozen deputies on patrol at any one time, covering 853 square miles. Our constrained budgets make it difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel. And our resident disaster preparedness needs vary from protecting seaboard residents from coastal hazards to inland folks in hilly areas with poorly maintained and windy roads. Like all communities, we need to always prepare for the future. Our Emergency Management Agency is one of the best in the state and is always educating and nudging the public to become prepared for the unexpected, whether it’s a severe storm or a long-term power outage. Given the trend toward more intense and frequent weather events, this task is more important than ever. Although the county does not itself own or maintain any roads, its emergency services depend on them to respond to residents in need. Thus, the county has an interest in supporting towns to prepare their roads for more flooding events to increase the likelihood that roads can stay open during storms. The county also needs to continue its own work to build each department’s resiliency so that continuity of services is maximized during these events. With so much of our society completely dependent on electricity to operate, the county has an interest in working with other entities to continually strengthen our electrical grid resiliency as well as our communities’ agency, business, and resident energy resiliency. Another challenge for our county is the complex, poorly funded, and relatively uncoordinated approach to corrections in our state. Because our county’s jail was closed in the 1990s, we need to board our inmates at other facilities and negotiating those terms in a manner that is favorable to Waldo County and its taxpayers is an ongoing issue. Our Jail Administrator, Ray Porter, has worked to build stable relationships with the other correctional facilities and as Commissioner, I would support this effort, as well as advocate at the state level for improved coordination and funding. In addition, many of our residents face severe economic distress, mental health and/or substance abuse challenges that lead to 911 calls. Our county has been working to increase its response capabilities to better address these needs through its community liaison program and other community agency partnerships. I will support the strengthening of these efforts to better meet community needs and lessen the burden on law enforcement and EMS agencies who often are the ones tasked to handle these calls for service.
Anything else you think voters should know?
No response provided to this question.
Timothy Allen Parker Jr., of Unity, owns a small landscaping business. He is a member of the Waldo County Budget Committee and has worked as a corrections officer at the Waldo County Jail.
Parker did not respond to The Monitor’s survey.
Joanna Owen, of Searsport, is the incumbent, and was appointed by Gov. Janet Mills to serve as the Waldo County judge of probate in December 2022. She replaced Sean Ociepka, who left the position after he was tapped by Mills to become a district court judge.
Owen did not respond to The Monitor’s survey.
Owen R. Smith, of Belfast, is the current treasurer. He was appointed by Gov. Janet Mills in 2023. He was named state dispatch Director of the Year in 2016 for his work as the director of the Waldo County 911 call center. He has also served two terms on the city council.
Smith did not respond to The Monitor’s survey.
Matthew Rhodes, of Unity, is running as a write-in candidate. He is a salesman with experience in marketing and is a field coordinator for the John Birch Society.
Rhodes did not respond to The Monitor’s survey.
Senate races
The Maine Senate is the upper chamber of the Maine Legislature and has 35 elected members. Senate terms are two years, and senators are limited to four consecutive terms. Counties can consist of multiple districts, which may cross county lines.
Running for the seat are Glenn Curry (D) and Robert Meyer (R).
To learn more about this legislative district, visit our statehouse directory. On election night, the page will display real-time race results.
House races
The Maine House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Maine Legislature, has 151 elected members. Representatives are elected for a two-year term, and are limited to four consecutive terms. Counties consist of multiple districts, which may cross county lines.
Running for the seat are Reagan Paul (R) and Scott Cuddy (D).
To learn more about this legislative district, visit our statehouse directory. On election night, the page will display real-time race results.
Running for the seat are Benjamin Hymes (R) and Stephen Ellis (D).
To learn more about this legislative district, visit our statehouse directory. On election night, the page will display real-time race results.
Running for the seat are Janice Dodge (D) and Stephen Hemenway (R).
To learn more about this legislative district, visit our statehouse directory. On election night, the page will display real-time race results.
Running for the seat are Michael Ray (D) and Joseph McLaughlin (R).
To learn more about this legislative district, visit our statehouse directory. On election night, the page will display real-time race results.
Running for the seat are Katrina Smith (R) and Pamela Swift (D).
To learn more about this legislative district, visit our statehouse directory. On election night, the page will display real-time race results.
Running for the seat are Lee Trahan (D) and Paul Flynn (R).
To learn more about this legislative district, visit our statehouse directory. On election night, the page will display real-time race results.
Running for the seat are Amanda Collamore (R) and Brian Blake (D).
To learn more about this legislative district, visit our statehouse directory. On election night, the page will display real-time race results.
Federal races
This November, Maine voters will see three federal races on the ballot: the presidential race, a U.S. Senate race, and a U.S. House of Representatives race.
U.S. President & Vice President
Foremost for many this election is the presidential race. Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out in July, is running alongside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. She is facing former president Donald Trump, who chose Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.
In an arrangement unique to Maine and Nebraska, Maine awards two electoral votes based on the statewide total and one for each congressional district. In 2020, Joe Biden won three of Maine’s four electoral votes, carrying Maine overall with 9 percentage points and the 1st congressional district by 23 percentage points. The 2nd congressional district went for Donald Trump by 7 percentage points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won three of the four electoral votes, carrying the state by 3 percentage points, and Trump was awarded one for the 2nd congressional district.
Candidates:
Kamala Harris & Tim Walz (D)
Donald Trump & J.D. Vance (R)
Chase Oliver & Mike ter Maat (L)
Jill Stein & Rudolph Ware (G)
Cornel West & Melina Abdullah (Justice for All Party)
Declared write-in candidates:
Shiva Ayyadurai & Crystal Ellis (I)
Claudia De la Cruz & Karina Garcia (Party for Socialism & Liberation)
Robert Dyer & Daniel Whitten (Defenders of America Party)
Peter Sonski & Lauren Onak (American Solidarity Party)
U.S. Senate
Senator Angus King, the incumbent, has held this seat as an Independent since January 2013, and served as Maine’s governor from 1995 to 2003. (He has voted overwhelmingly in line with Democrats over the years.) Jason Cherry, a former criminal defense attorney and FBI special agent, is also running for the seat as an Independent. Long-time government employee David Costello is running as a Democrat. Former Maine GOP chair Demi Kouzounas is running as a Republican. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who has held her seat since 1997, is not on the ballot this year; she is up for re-election in 2026.
Candidates:
Angus King (I)
Demi Kouzounas (R)
Jason Cherry (I)
David Costello (D)
U.S. House of Representatives — 2nd District
Both of Maine’s congressional districts are on the ballot this November. Voters in Waldo County are in the 2nd Congressional District. Jared Golden, a Democrat, is the incumbent, having served in the seat since January 2019. Austin Theriault, a Republican, is a former NASCAR driver and has been a state representative since 2022.
Candidates:
Jared Golden (D)
Austin Theriault (R)
Declared write-in candidates:
Diana Merenda (U)
State Referendum Questions
There are five statewide referendum questions that will appear on the ballot this November:
An Act to Limit Contributions to Political Action Committees That Make Independent Expenditures: Do you want to set a $5,000 limit for giving to political action committees that spend money independently to support or defeat candidates for office?
This question, which stems from a citizen initiative, asks whether voters want to impose a cap on contributions to super PACs, political action committees that raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for or against political candidates. Supporters of the measure believe it would curb the amount of dark money influencing elections, and expect it to be challenged in court.
An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue for Research and Development and Commercialization: Do you favor a bond issue of $25,000,000 to provide funds, to be awarded through a competitive process and to leverage matching private and federal funds on at least a one-to-one basis, for research and development and commercialization for Maine-based public and private institutions in support of technological innovation in the targeted sectors of life sciences and biomedical technology, environmental and renewable energy technology, information technology, advanced technologies for forestry and agriculture, aquaculture and marine technology, composites and advanced materials and precision manufacturing?
This question, a bond issue that stems from a bill passed earlier this year, asks whether voters want to designate funds to the Maine Technology Institute to bolster scientific research and technological innovation among public and private organizations.
An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Restore Historic Community Buildings: Do you favor a $10,000,000 bond issue to restore historic buildings owned by governmental and nonprofit organizations, with funds being issued contingent on a 25% local match requirement from either private or nonprofit sources?
This question, a bond issue that stems from a bill passed earlier this year, asks whether voters want to designate funds to the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, which will offer grants to nonprofits and government agencies looking to restore historic buildings in their communities.
An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Promote the Design, Development and Maintenance of Trails for Outdoor Recreation and Active Transportation: Do you favor a $30,000,000 bond issue to invest in the design, development and maintenance for nonmotorized, motorized and multi-use trails statewide, to be matched by at least $3,000,000 in private and public contributions?
This question, a bond issue that stems from a bill passed earlier this year, asks whether voters want to designate funds to create the Maine Trails Program, which would develop and maintain trails across the state designated for activities such as hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and horseback riding; for ATVs and snowmobiles; and for both kinds of use.
An Act to Restore the Former State of Maine Flag: Do you favor making the former state flag, replaced as the official flag of the State in 1909 and commonly known as the Pine Tree Flag, the official flag of the State?
This question, which stems from a bill passed last year, asks whether voters want to replace the current flag — blue with a coat of arms featuring a farmer and a fisherman — with the former pine tree and blue star design that was in use before 1909. The Secretary of State held a contest for the model flag design and selected a winner in August.
