Ask some people and they’ll tell you that Maine has a strong two-party system. Ask other people the same question and they’ll say, “Very funny.” The funny thing is there are things about Maine politics that are pretty funny – or at least curious.

Take the debate over when Mainers can register to vote. Some say you should be able to register right up until you grab a ballot and head for the voting booth. Others say registration should end a few days before the election. I can’t get too worked about the question one way or the other, but it did get me to thinking about elections gone by.

Years ago, Maine was one of the most Republican states in the nation. When Maine used to hold its elections in September instead of November, Republicans used to say: “As goes Maine, so goes the nation” – the idea being that Maine always went Republican. Democrats were seldom heard saying anything like that.

The nation doesn’t always go as Maine goes these days. Sometimes it does, often it doesn’t.

Back when it was like that old way, folks in Cherryfield would have an election and then town officials would go down to Town Hall to count up the ballots. The total would always be: Republicans 493 votes; Democrats 0.

I remember back when Democrat John F. Kennedy ran for president against Richard Nixon. I wasn’t old enough to vote back then, but I was interested in the election and followed the day-to-day campaign closely. I wanted to learn a thing or two about how politics worked. On election night, I went down to Town Hall to watch the poll workers count up the ballots, and as they went through the pile, it was one Republican ballot after another.

Then, about halfway through the pile, they came across a ballot marked “Kennedy.” The smoothly running process suddenly came to a screeching halt as a poll official fished out the unusual ballot and passed it around the table for all to examine.

“Where’d that come from?” asked First Selectman Arthur Strout.

“I don’t know,” said clearly annoyed Third Selectman Sherm Ames.

As the curious ballot went around the table, almost everyone had a snide comment about who may have cast the odd vote, but in the end they concluded that the ballot looked legal and therefore probably had to be counted.

Continuing the count, all the remaining ballots went into the Republican pile until they came to the second-to-last ballot. Darned if it wasn’t another ballot marked “Kennedy.”

That’s all Second Selectman Ed Beal needed. He jumped to his feet, grabbed the offending ballot and said, “The cheater must have voted twice!”

So, they ripped up both ballots and the final vote – as usual – was Nixon 293; Kennedy 0.

John McDonald is the author of “A Moose and a Lobster Walk into a Bar,” “Down the road a piece,” “The Maine Dictionary” and “Nothin’ but Puffins.” Contact him at Mainestoryteller@yahoo.com.