Maine election officials are expecting a high turnout during this year's presidential election, which will also determine the winner of a U.S. Senate seat. But the long lines at the polls are increasingly becoming shorter as more Mainers take advantage of casting absentee ballots up to 30 days before Election Day. Political parties like the option because it ensures that a certain number of ballots are cast. But critics point out that there is a risk for those voters to might later want to change their minds. A.J. Higgins has more.

Election Day is still 20 days off. But in many Maine communities, thousands of voters have already had their say by casting absentee ballots. Bangor City Clerk Lisa Goodwin says interest in what some have come to call early voting is shared among all voter groups.

"It's been very steady and we've been really busy," Goodwin says. "So far we've filled 2,600 requests for absentee ballots and we anticipate around 8,500 absentee voters."

Under Maine law, deployed military service personnel have 45 days before the Nov. 6 Election day to cast absentee ballots. And Maine residents can cast absentee ballots up to 30 days before the polls close at 8 p.m., but they cannot request an early ballot form after Nov. 1st.

Goodwin says once that absentee ballot is cast, there's no turning back. "It's just like when you go to the polls on Election Day," Goodwin says. "Once you've cast your vote, you can't come back in and say, 'I want to change my mind,' because the ballot's already been processed -- it's gone and they can't get it back."

Goodwin says voters like the convenience and flexibility of absentee balloting, and that the number of Mainers who choose that option seems to be growing with each successive election cycle.

But some Mainers are not necessarily inclined to see the trend as a positive development. "We used to say that people don't pay attention to the campaign until Labor Day - today I don't think a lot of people pay attention until sometime in mid-October," says Eliot Cutler.

A former Maine gubernatorial candidate, Cutler saw his independent candidacy surge late two years ago when many Democrats abandoned the party's nominee to vote for the Cape Elizabeth lawyer.

Because of the large numbers of voters who cast absentee ballots in that elections, Cutler - who lost to Gov. Paul LePage by less than two percent of the statewide vote -- believes to this day that many of those absentee ballots could have come his way had they been cast a week before the election.

Cutler would like to see the window for casting an absentee ballot shortened -- perhaps to no more than a week to 10 days before Election Day.

"It seems to me, at least, that we're denying ourselves the importance of getting to know who the candidates are, what they stand for, what the real choices are," Cutler says. "It's ironic that we pay so much attention to polls, yet vote early."

"I think Eliot Cutler's position about absentee voting is completely insulting to voters," says Ben Grant, chair of the Maine Democratic Party.

Grant takes a hard line against Cutler, and not just because many Democrats perceive Cutler as a spoiler. Grant says Cutler's opinions on absentee ballots are tantamount to advocating for decreasing access to the ballot for many Mainers who deserve more credit than Cutler wants to give them.

"It assumes that they don't know that things might change," Grant says. "Anyone who's paid attention to these races knows that events happen, and advertising happens, and people can make up their minds whenever they want to. And if they're worried that something might change later on and they might want to change their vote, then they just won't absentee vote."

All but 16 states allow some form of absentee or early voting.