Maine's 16 counties are run by a small elected Board of Commissioners, but county government mostly limits itself to the sheriff's department, jail, and emergency services and registries — not the broad range of services many people associate with "the county." For public meetings, zoning, and most records requests, residents should look first to their town or city clerk and select board or council, since Maine follows the strong New England town-government tradition. Over half of Maine's land area is "unorganized territory" with no local government at all; there, the state Land Use Planning Commission and county government jointly cover basic services and land-use decisions.

Most states structure local government as a small elected commission with broad service responsibilities; Maine's county boards instead handle only a narrow slice of services, because historically most governmental power was delegated to towns rather than counties.