Portland, MaineWith 60 percent of precincts reporting, Maine voters appeared to be giving a slight edge to the campaign to retain a marriage equality law in that state.
As of 10:30 central time the night of Nov. 3, 51.58 percent of voters had voted "No" on Question 1, 48.42 percent had voted "Yes."
The campaigns for and against the state's equal marriage law have been underway since May when the legislature passed and the governor signed the new law enabling same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses the same as straight couples. Ballot Question 1 asked voters if they would like to repeal that law.
Many political observers have praised the "No on 1" organization for running a well-oiled campaign, headed by Maine natives with considerable experience in Maine politics. Heading that campaign was Jesse Connolly, a 31-year-old straight married father, the son of a state political veteran, on leave from his job as Chief of Staff for the Maine Speaker of the House. Connolly also ran the successful 2005 campaign to vote "No" on a ballot measure seeking to repeal the state's recently passed law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. The "No" vote won 55 percent to 45 percent.
The key focus of "No on 1" from the start was identifying voters who would vote "No" and making a concerted effort to get those voters to actually cast their ballotseither by absentee ballot, early voting or on election day. Activists from as far away as Hawaii came to Maine in the last days of the campaign to help with that basic door-to-door canvassing of voters.
Tambry Young, co-chair of the Family Equality Coalition of Hawaii, said she came to Maine last Wednesday because "at some point, we need to stand up and say, 'We need to do the right thing.'"
But the "Yes on 1" campaign had considerable visibility throughout the statewith a plentiful supply of yard signs posted along many roads and streets, where maybe one "No on 1" sign appeared. At one busy intersection in Portland Tuesday, five "Yes on 1" activists stood on the median and hoisted "Yes on 1" placards, yelling "Vote Yes on 1No Homosexuals!" In the sea of yellow and blue "Yes on 1" yard signs surrounding them in the intersection were two "No on 1" hand-painted signs.
On one occasion, a car zipped by and a woman yelled out the window, "I voted no!" But many cars honked and their drivers waved, seeming to signal agreement with the "Yes on 1" position.
Voter turnout was much heavier than expected. The secretary of state had predicted about 25 to 35 percent of registered voters would turn out, but by mid-afternoon, he revised that to 50 percent or more. At 4:30 p.m. in the Civic Centerthe largest polling place in the state capital of Augustathere were large numbers of voters in line to cast their ballots.
The vote in Maine over a newly passed marriage equality law was the dominant story for most election coverage on referenda measures around the country. Many political observers saw it as a political compass for which way the country's mood was heading on equal marriage rights for gay couples.
It was one of seven ballot measures on an otherwise light ballot in Maine, with no major political offices up for grabs. The secretary of state noted that the usual turnout for an off-election year is about 15-25 percent but he was expecting 35 percent.
There was a tremendous push for last-minute funding in Maine. An e-mail sent out at 10 o'clock on Monday morning asked for another $25,000 in donations to pay for television ads to counter the "Yes on 1" campaign's last-minute television buy. "No on 1" supporters sent in $68,000 before the bank closed that day.
"Never did we think over 1,200 people would give a gift today," said Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for the "No on 1" effort.
"I have never seen a campaign that has had this many volunteers from so many walks of life," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Carey was in Maine Nov. 3 helping with the get-out-the-vote effort. She said her door-to-door team included an older straight woman from Portland and a young woman from New Hampshire.
Mary Bonauto, too, thanked straight allies "who made this fight their own." Bonauto, who lives in Maine, was a key leader with Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders in winning legal battles for marriage equality.
"California was a wake-up call," said Carey. "Many people became determined that if they had another opportunity to step up, they would step up and Maine has been that opportunity."
The latest ad by the "Yes on 1" group flipped through a number of newspaper clippings and official-looking documents at a rapid-fire pace while a female voice urgently warned that gay activists "are already pushing their agenda in Maine schools." A radio ad warned that gay activists and their supporters will "push it on students."
One of the key advocates for repealing the Maine marriage-equality law was in Washington, D.C., on Monday, trying to persuade the city council to reject a marriage equality bill there. Brian Brown, head of the National Organization for Marriage
Ramifications beyond Maine
There were some critics of President Barack Obama's lack of effort around the battle in Maine.
Longtime gay Democratic activist David Mixner put it most bluntly on his blog: "President Obama and his team were zero help in this critical battle and in the last week might actually have hurt us."
In fact, in February 2008, as the Democratic primary battle was in full swing, Obama ( who was a candidate at this point ) released an open letter to the LGBT community saying, "As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws. I personally believe that civil unions represent the best way to secure that equal treatment. But I also believe that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian coupleswhether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage."
But at a national Human Rights Campaign dinner in Washington, D.C., Oct. 10, the president had nothing to say about Maine or Washington State explicitly; instead, he said, "I believe strongly in stopping laws designed to take rights away and passing laws that extend equal rights to gay couples."
And some days later, at an appearance at the University of Maine on Oct. 23, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, when asked by a reporter about Maine's Question 1 specifically, said that he and Obama "are of the view it is for states to make these decisions."
The White House offered no comment in regards to Mixner's criticism.
Others were critical of Organizing for America, the successor organization to the Obama for America campaign. As blogger Joe Sudbury at americablog.com posted Monday, Organizing for America emailed Maine voters on Monday, urging them to get to the polls but said nothing about Question 1.
"Progressives in Maine are working their butts off to save marriage equality. The Democratic Governor of the State, John Baldacci, signed the marriage law, which passed the Democratically-controlled House and Senate. Baldacci and mebers of the legislature have been campaigning tirelessly to save the new law from being repealed. Yet, OFA, an arm of the Democratic National Committee, couldn't even say: Vote No on 1," wrote Sudbury.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said, "I do think that [ President Obama ] was wrongthat neither he nor the Democratic Party spoke out" against the Maine ballot measure.
"I'm disappointed in his failure to speak out on this issue," said Solmonese on Obama. "He did speak out against Proposition 8 and it did influence people. … I think when he talked about using the bullypulpit, that's what we expected he would do."
HRC gave about $300,000 to the campaign effort and had "about a dozen" people "on the ground" in Maine to help the "No on 1" campaign.
Waiting in Washington
In Washington State, where voters are being asked to decide whether to keep a newly passed domestic partnership law, the result is not likely to be known for several days. Voting in that state is done entirely by mailthough voters can drop off their ballots in person, tooand voters can postmark their ballots as late as anytime Tuesday.
Dave Ammons, a spokesperson for the secretary of state's office, said the office would begin posting results at 11 p.m. ET Tuesday at www.vote.wa.gov . But he added that they would have "probably no more than half of the expected total vote counted by the end of the evening."
©2009 Keen News Service
Be sure to check WindyCityMediaGroup.com for updates of these elections.