Easy access to Maine Senate and House voting histories for undecided voters

Chris Krenn

To help Maine voters make their final decisions for the Maine Senate and House of Representatives elections next week, we developed a new website (https://dash.democracygps.org) that allows visitors to easily explore and compare the voting histories of Maine politicians. For example, visitors can compare the voting histories of Nicole Grohoski and Brian Langley, who were both running for the Maine Senate District 7 seat. Grohoski has voted mostly (94% of the time) with her fellow Democrats, but Langley’s voting record is more liberal than many other Maine Republicans, having voted with the Democratic majority 50% of the time.

Table comparing Maine Senate District 7 representatives. Nicole Grohoski (Democrat) shows −72% polarization, 94% Democratic agreement, and 15% Republican agreement. Brian Langley (Republican) shows 34% polarization, 50% Democratic agreement, and 92% Republican agreement.

Polarization and party agreement for the 2022 candidates for Maine’s Senate District 7 election

The website provides a view of all recent Maine Senate and House members that shows how often each politician voted with the Democratic or Republican majorities and a measure of how polarized their voting records were (negative for more agreement with the Democrats and positive for more agreement with the Republicans).

Scatter plot of Maine legislators showing polarization versus party agreement. Democrats (blue) cluster at −50% polarization with 90–100% agreement. Republicans (red) cluster at +50% polarization with 85–100% agreement. Independents and mixed affiliations scatter lower. Nicole Grohoski (Democrat) marked at −72% polarization and 94% agreement; Brian Langley (Republican) marked at 34% polarization and 92% agreement.

Comparison of candidates Grohoski and Langley to other recently elected Maine politicians

The website also lists some of the most independent or bipartisan votes for each politician, allows visitors to easily search the complete voting histories of current and recent Maine state senators and representatives since 2017, and shows which bills were most polarizing.

Table listing bipartisan or independent votes by Brian Langley, Republican of Hancock. Includes bills with negative polarization showing Democratic lean. Examples: student debt refinancing bond (Democrats 14–0 yes, Republicans 2–14 yes/no, 2017-07-20); bus traffic ordinances (Democrats 17–0 yes, Republicans 3–15 yes/no, 2017-06-19); shellfish conservation, voter ID, and immigration compliance votes with similar splits.

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