MAINE, USA — For those of you who voted by absentee ballot, you may have noticed your voter identification number on the envelope of your ballot.
The last digit on every voter identification number is the first letter of the party that person is affiliated with. So an R for Republican, D for Democrat, U for undeclared.
Secretary of State Matt Dunlap told NEWS CENTER Maine that this is nothing new and is registered to a party is not private information.
He also said that your voter identification number is all based on your information including your full name, address, precinct, the year you were born, if you voted in the last two elections, and your party.
"It's especially important to have the party affiliation on there for primary elections because obviously, we have closed primaries so that only republicans can get a republican ballot and only democrats and get a democratic ballot and only greens can get a green ballot so there's no easy way to take it off," Dunlap said.
The Secretary of State's office said this has been part of your voter identification number for years and it's nothing to be concerned about.