With a The Portland Press Herald subscription, you can gift 5 articles each month.

I served more than 35 years as the town clerk for Lisbon. My favorite part of the job was preparing and running elections. I took great pride in making sure it was convenient and secure for eligible voters to vote.

Question 1 provokes fear, claiming our system needs to be more secure. The truth is Question 1 would make our system worse and make it harder for people to vote.

Question 1 would make it more difficult to request absentee ballots, eliminate ongoing absentee ballots and make turning in ballots harder. It also would get rid of the last two days of in-person absentee voting when I often saw shift workers, voters with unpredictable hours and people with loved ones unexpectedly in the hospital vote.

These changes are unnecessary and will force hardworking Mainers to miss out on their right to vote. Please vote "No" on Question 1.