Maine Reporting Units

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AP Elections is revising and updating its coverage of election reporting units in Maine beginning with the June 9, 2026, primary election. This update will more completely align AP's elections data with the geographies and naming conventions used by the U.S. Census Bureau, a change aimed at facilitating easier data analysis and mapping.

This update does not alter any of AP’s past reporting of election night results and no changes are being made to the past results archive. Further, the vast majority of reporting units in Maine will not change from how AP has reported election results in the state in past years.

This revision is limited to a small number of rural areas where reporting units have varied in description in past years. We seek to eliminate this issue moving forward by more closely aligning reporting units with the geography of the state as defined by the Census Bureau.

These changes, described in detail below, will take effect for Maine’s June 9, 2026, primary election. They will be reflected in all AP elections tests for the Maine primary; those tests begin on May 7, 2026.

A complete list of the new reporting units for Maine is available here. A complete list of the deprecated reporting units for Maine is available here.

Summary

As in other New England states, Maine reports election results by municipality (such as towns and cities) rather than county. These municipalities are reflected in AP’s election results reports as Level 2 reporting units and will be defined moving forward by Census Bureau county subdivision.

A county subdivision will be a Level 2 reporting unit in Maine if any of the following criteria are true: The population is equal to or greater than 20, based on the Census Bureau’s 2024 population estimates; it is an existing AP reporting unit; it appears in Maine’s certified election results for key general election races in recent years.

A small number of very low population county subdivisions in Census Bureau data do not meet these criteria.

Additionally, AP will begin using the Census Bureau’s "unorganized territory" county subdivisions for those areas of Maine without a municipal government. Many of these reporting units, such as "North Washington unorganized territory," replace the previous "County Townships" reporting units. Others represent individual former municipalities, such as "Drew unorganized territory."

A final new Level 2 reporting unit will be added for Overseas Absentee (UOCAVA) ballots. This reporting unit does not have sub-state geography, and results are not typically available until after election night.

AP also will report some results in a Level 3 reporting unit. These are unincorporated townships and administrative areas defined by the state, and they roll up into a Level 2 reporting unit.

A township will be a Level 3 reporting unit if any of the following criteria are true: The population is less than 10, as calculated by AP; it’s an existing AP reporting unit; it appears in Maine's certified election results for key general elections in recent years. Existing Level 3 reporting units that previously rolled up into AP’s former "County Townships" reporting units will now roll up into their parent county subdivision as defined by the Census Bureau.

Election Results Reporting

Some reporting units as defined in this update may not report votes in an election, due primarily to their exceptionally low population. AP will include these reporting units in our results reporting to facilitate mapping and for continuity in the event that they report votes in future elections.

Some rural areas without their own elections office report results via a nearby "host" town. Those votes may be included in this "host" town’s totals. In some instances, rural areas report results separately for state legislative races but as part of a "host" town for statewide office or U.S. House.

When the towns or state disaggregate the votes in this manner, AP will report those results separately as recorded by election officials. This disaggregation may not take place in some instances until the final results are reported at certification.

Recent Town Disorganizations

The revised reporting unit structure is based on current Census Bureau county subdivisions. A handful of towns have disbanded their governments in recent years and joined Maine’s unorganized territory. Some remain their own county subdivision, while others become part of a larger county subdivision, depending on geography and county.

AP will adjust its reporting unit structure to match Census Bureau changes if more towns disorganize in the future. These changes will be noted in future communications as needed.

Technical Notes

In preparing this revision, AP assigned each 2020 Census block to its parent county subdivision and, where applicable, unorganized township/administrative area as defined by the state. This block crosswalk was used to calculate township population, legislative district assignments and county subdivision relationships.

A small number of townships are split between county subdivisions. AP assigned each to a single subdivision based on where the majority of the township population lives, or if unpopulated, the majority of its land area.

Township populations are normalized to 2024 county subdivision populations. These township populations have a high margin of error due to Decennial Census differential privacy measures and survey error, as well as distance from 2020. AP chose a low population threshold to define level 3 reporting units (10 residents) to account for this possible error.