AP Retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, speaks with reporters at the Capitol as Congress returns to work in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012. Snowe didnt run for re-election because of what she called gridlock and partisanship in Washington. Former Republican U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe is putting her support behind a bill to open Maine's primaries. The Democrat-sponsored bill would make it possible for unenrolled voters to cast a ballot in party primaries. Snowe said in a press release from the group Open Primaries Maine: “In order to help ensure that candidates better reflect the ideological pragmatism of most Americans, Maine should enact semi-open primaries.”