On March 23, 2016, the Maine legislature passed LD 1484. Among other election law changes, it made the deadline for filing as a declared write-in earlier, from 45 days before the election, to 60 days before the election. The law went into effect on April 10, 2016. Therefore, the July 1 2016 printed Ballot Access News, which had write-in filing deadlines, is in error. The newsletter says the Maine write-in deadline is September 24, but actually it is September 9. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for this news.

It is not rational for states to set such early deadlines for filing as a write-in candidate. One of the reasons we have write-in space on ballots is to take account of unexpected events that occur in the weeks before election day.