The Portland City Council voted unanimously on Monday to indefinitely postpone a plan to close 10 of the city's 16 polling sites. A 10-member panel will now study the need for any reductions and report back in January.

The city is dealing with a difficult budget situation and is looking to cut costs, but as John Bartholomew of Maine Common Cause recently said in a release, "Accidentally disenfranchising voters in a presidential election year will cost the city far more in terms of public trust than it would save in dollars."