Herb Hoffman, 2008 independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, has been trying to persuade the Maine legislature to improve conditions for declared write-in candidates. Earlier this year his bill to help write-in candidates was defeated in Committee. However, that was because the Secretary of State had promised to put the provisions of the bill into his omnibus election law bill, LD 1169. The Secretary of State has kept his word, so the provisions may yet become law. They provide that each polling place should post a list of the declared write-in candidates, and delete the law that says the voter must write-in not only the name of the candidate but the candidate´s town of residence, and also improve procedures for counting write-in votes.