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Sean Mahoney is a Falmouth town councilor and a candidate for the Maine House of Representatives for District 112 (North Deering and West Falmouth).

“Voting is a waste of time, and my vote won’t mean anything.”

That’s what one voter in North Deering told me last February as I began my campaign to be the next representative of House District 112 in the Maine Legislature.

It’s a comment that has stuck with me over the last seven months, not only because I couldn’t disagree more with the statement but also because, at that moment at this man’s garage door on a cold Saturday afternoon, I failed to lay out the grounds for why I disagreed with him.

If I get the chance to talk with him again, or anyone else who shares his belief, this is what I would say today.

First, while voting is considered a fundamental right today, it’s important to remember that most of us voting today would not have been eligible 250 years ago. Only white, property-owning men, 5% of Americans, could vote at that time.

Our right to vote today rests on the shoulders of the men and women who fought for those rights on the battlefields of the Civil War, in the legislatures and courts, and at places like Seneca Falls and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Many people literally put their lives on the line to ensure that right to vote. Not voting dishonors their sacrifice.

Second, it has never been easier to vote, even with the all-out assault on voting rights by the Trump administration. In addition to voting on Election Day at your local municipal voting location there is the option to either vote by mail or to vote early in person. Any Maine voter can request an absentee ballot by mail by filling out a form, either online or at their municipal clerk’s office. Ballots will be mailed to voters beginning Oct. 5 and must be received by their town clerk by Nov. 3, Election Day.

A Maine voter can also vote early in person at their municipal clerk’s office during regular business hours beginning on Oct. 5 and up to the Thursday before the election, which this year is Oct. 29.

Third, every vote does matter. In the last Legislature, the Maine Democrats held a two-seat majority in the House of Representatives, 75-73, with three independents. The margin of victory for three of those Democrats was a total of 60 votes (7, 14 and 39 votes).

This past June, there were a number of primary elections, both Republican and Democratic, that were decided by a handful of votes — in the Republican primary in House District 49 the winning margin was six votes and in the Democratic primary in House District 135, the winning margin was 18 votes out of 2,284 votes cast.

Fourth, and most importantly, voting is integral to being part of our community. It is an opportunity not only for us to weigh in on local, state and national issues, but also to engage with our families, neighbors and/or co-workers about those issues.

I like to vote in person on Election Day because it gives me a chance to catch up with candidates, with the municipal staff who do such an amazing job running our elections here in Maine, with the many people who volunteer to work at the polls (many of whom do so year after year after year) and with the community members at the information tables outside the voting area.

In the 2024 presidential election, the overall turnout rate of eligible voters in Maine was almost 75%, almost 10% more than the national average for the same year and bested by only three other states — Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In the 2022 midterm general election, the overall turnout rate of eligible voters in Maine was almost 61%, bested only by Oregon. This Nov. 3, let’s take our state motto, Dirigo, to heart and lead with the highest turnout in the nation.