November 20, 2022 — One discovery we made in the Maine Senate and House data is that between 2017 and 2022 average voting polarization in the Maine Senate and House has increased from 60% to almost 80%. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, over this period, the percentage of bipartisan votes, where most Democrats and Republicans vote together, decreased from 19% to 10%, and the percentage of polarized votes increased from 32% to 61%. Some, but not necessarily all, of this increase is due to Republican legislators starting to vote more unanimously (like their Democratic colleagues).
Increasing polarization in Maine Senate and House votes between 2017 and 2022 (sessions 128, 129, and 130)
Our website (http://dash.democracygps.org) allows visitors to see for themselves which bills were most and least polarizing...
November 19, 2022 — 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.
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).
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.
