“Please be sure to do your civic duty and vote before the polls close tonight,” exhorted Governor Paul LePage on his official Facebook Page yesterday. Absentee voting records indicate, however, that he didn’t take his own advice.

After getting a tip from a Democratic Party staffer, I took a look at the statewide absentee ballot request list for the Primary and checked it against voter registration records. As of their final update at 3pm yesterday, LePage’s voter reference ID number didn’t appear on the list.

Augusta City Clerk Barbara Wardwell confirms that the state list is what they use to distribute absentee ballots and there is no other record of him obtaining a ballot.

LePage couldn’t vote in person on election day, as he is currently on a trade mission to Iceland.

On an interesting side note, Maine Republicans are currently touting the fact that more ballots were cast yesterday in the Second Congressional District Republican primary than were in the Democratic contest for the same office, claiming it’s a sign that Republicans will be more engaged come November.

The fact that the leader of their party didn’t bother to cast a ballot might seem to indicate otherwise. The difference is more likely simply a result of the fact that the Republican primary was much closer and had two candidates airing TV ads.