Article V. — Part First.
Executive Power.
Section 1. Governor. The supreme executive power of this State shall be vested in a Governor.
Section 2. Term of office; reelection eligibility. The Governor shall be elected by the qualified electors, and shall hold the office for 4 years from the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday of January next following the election and until the successor to the Governor has been duly elected and qualified. The person who has served 2 consecutive popular elective 4-year terms of office as Governor shall be ineligible to succeed himself or herself.
Section 3. Election; votes to be returned to Secretary of State; Secretary of State to lay lists before the Senate and House of Representatives; provision in case of tie. The meetings for election of Governor shall be notified, held and regulated and votes shall be received, sorted, counted and declared and recorded, in the same manner as those for Senators and Representatives. Copies of lists of votes shall be sealed and returned to the secretary’s office in the same manner and at the same time as those for Senators. The Secretary of State for the time being shall, on the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday of January then next, lay the lists returned to the secretary’s office before the Senate and House of Representatives to be by them examined, together with the ballots cast if they so elect, and they shall determine the number of votes duly cast for the office of Governor, and in case of a choice by plurality of all of the votes returned they shall declare and publish the same. If there shall be a tie between the 2 persons having the largest number of votes for Governor, the House of Representatives and the Senate meeting in joint session, and each member of said bodies having a single vote, shall elect one of said 2 persons having so received an equal number of votes and the person so elected by the Senate and House of Representatives shall be declared the Governor.
Section 4. Qualifications. The Governor shall, at the commencement of the Governor’s term, be not less than 30 years of age; a citizen of the United States for at least 15 years, have been 5 years a resident of the State; and at the time of election and during the term for which elected, be a resident of said State.
Section 5. Disqualifications. No person holding any office or place under the United States, this State, or any other power, shall assume the office of Governor, nor shall any such person exercise the office of Governor except as provided by this Constitution.
Section 6. Compensation. The Governor shall, at stated times, receive for services a compensation, which shall not be increased or diminished during the Governor’s continuance in office.
Section 7. Commander in chief. The Governor shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of the State, and of the militia, except when the same are called into the actual service of the United States.
Section 8. To appoint officers. The Governor shall nominate, and, subject to confirmation as provided herein, appoint all judicial officers, except judges of probate and justices of the peace if their manner of selection is otherwise provided for by this Constitution or by law, and all other civil and military officers whose appointment is not by this Constitution, or shall not by law be otherwise provided for.
Procedure for confirmation. The procedure for confirmation shall be as follows: an appropriate legislative committee comprised of members of both houses in reasonable proportion to their membership as provided by law shall recommend confirmation or denial by majority vote of committee members present and voting. The committee recommendation shall be reviewed by the Senate and upon review shall become final action of confirmation or denial unless the Senate by vote of 2/3 of those members present and voting overrides the committee recommendation. The Senate vote shall be by the yeas and nays.
Affirmative vote of 2/3 of members required. All statutes enacted to carry out the purposes of the second paragraph of this section shall require the affirmative vote of 2/3 of the members of each House present and voting.
Governor or President of Senate may call Senate into session. Either the Governor or the President of the Senate shall have the power to call the Senate into session for the purpose of voting upon confirmation of appointments.
Nomination by Governor made 7 days prior to appointment of nominee. Every nomination by the Governor shall be made 7 days at least prior to appointment of the nominee.
Section 9. To give information and recommend measures. The Governor shall from time to time give the Legislature information of the condition of the State, and recommend to their consideration such measures, as the Governor may judge expedient.
Section 10. May require information of any officer. The Governor may require information from any military officer, or any officer in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.
Section 11. Power to pardon and remit penalties, etc.; conditions. The Governor shall have power to remit after conviction all forfeitures and penalties, and to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, except in cases of impeachment, upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and limitations as may be deemed proper, subject to such regulations as may be provided by law, relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Such power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons shall include offenses of juvenile delinquency.
Section 12. Shall enforce the laws. The Governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
Section 13. Convene the Legislature on extraordinary occasions, and adjourn it in case of disagreement; may change the place of meeting. The Governor may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the Legislature; and in case of disagreement between the 2 Houses with respect to the time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time, as the Governor shall think proper, not beyond the day of the next regular session; and if, since the last adjournment, the place where the Legislature were next to convene shall have become dangerous from an enemy or contagious sickness, may direct the session to be held at some other convenient place within the State.
Section 14. Vacancy, how supplied. Whenever the office of Governor shall become vacant because of the death, resignation or removal of a Governor in office, or any other cause, the President of the Senate shall assume the office of Governor until another Governor shall be duly qualified. When the vacancy occurs more than 90 days preceding the date of the primary election for nominating candidates to be voted for at the biennial election next succeeding, the President of the Senate shall assume the office of Governor until the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday of January following the biennial election. At the biennial election, a Governor shall be elected to fill the unexpired term created by the vacancy. When the vacancy occurs less than 90 days preceding the date of a primary election the President of the Senate shall fill the unexpired term.
Whenever the offices of Governor and President of the Senate are vacant at the same time, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall assume the office of Governor for the same term and under the same conditions as the President of the Senate.
Whenever the offices of Governor, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives are vacant at the same time, the person acting as Secretary of State for the time being shall exercise the office of Governor and shall forthwith by proclamation convene the Senate and the House of Representatives which shall fill respectively the vacancies in the offices of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, and by joint ballot of the Senators and Representatives in convention choose a person who shall assume the office of Governor for the same term and under the same conditions as the President of the Senate.
Mental or physical disability of the Governor continuously for more than 6 months. Whenever for 6 months a Governor in office shall have been continuously unable to discharge the powers and duties of that office because of mental or physical disability such office shall be deemed vacant. Such vacancy shall be declared by the Supreme Judicial Court upon presentment to it of a joint resolution declaring the ground of the vacancy, adopted by a vote of 2/3 of the Senators and Representatives in convention, and upon notice, hearing before the court and a decision by a majority of the court that ground exists for declaring the office to be vacant.
Section 15. Temporary mental or physical disability of Governor. Whenever the Governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of that office because of mental or physical disability, the President of the Senate, or if that office is vacant, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall exercise the powers and duties of the office of Governor until the Governor is again able to discharge the powers and duties of that office, or until the office of Governor is declared to be vacant or until another Governor shall be duly qualified.
Whenever the Governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of that office, the Governor may so certify to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, in which case and upon notice from the Chief Justice, the President of the Senate, or if that office is vacant, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall exercise the powers and duties of the office of Governor until such time as the Governor shall certify to the Chief Justice that the Governor is able to discharge such powers and duties and the Chief Justice shall so notify the officer who is exercising the powers and duties of the office of Governor.
When the Secretary of State shall have reason to believe that the Governor is unable to discharge the duties of that office, the Secretary of State may so certify to the Supreme Judicial Court, declaring the reason for such belief. After notice to the Governor, a hearing before the court and a decision by a majority of the court that the Governor is unable to discharge the duties of the office of Governor, the court shall notify the President of the Senate, or if that office is vacant the Speaker of the House of Representatives, of such inability and that officer shall exercise the functions, powers and duties of the office of Governor until such time as the Secretary of State or the Governor shall certify to the court that the Governor is able to discharge the duties of the office of Governor and the court, after notice to the Governor and a hearing before the court, decides that the Governor is able to discharge the duties of that office and so notifies the officer who is exercising the powers and duties of the office of Governor.
Whenever either the President of the Senate or Speaker of the House of Representatives shall exercise the office of Governor, the officer shall receive only the compensation of Governor, but the officer’s duties as President or Speaker shall be suspended; and the Senate or House shall fill the vacancy resulting from such suspension, until the officer shall cease to exercise the office of Governor.
Source: http://maine.gov/legis/const/ (accessed October 26, 2011)