In Maine, supporters of same-sex marriage are looking for their side’s first honest statewide popular-vote victory (they prevailed narrowly in Arizona in 2006 by raising fears about elderly couples’ joint checking accounts and then lost two years later when a the traditional marriage ballot initiative was revised to eliminate this red herring). Early returns — just 70 of 608 precincts reporting — show the “people’s veto” of same-sex marriage failing 53 percent to 47 percent, which would mean that voters approve the legislature’s redefinition of marriage in their state.
UPDATE: With a little less than a quarter of the vote in, the referendum is running 50-50 right now. This is shaping up to be a close one, as expected.
UPDATE II: With 76 percent of the vote in, Maine is now voting 52 percent in favor of a referendum that would veto legislation creating same-sex marriage. That’s the same percentage by which California approved Proposition 8 last year.
UPDATE III: The people’s veto appears to have passed.
