Election 2009: Maine Gay Marriage Count May Take a While
Here's something we didn't think about when we mentioned those 100,000 absentee ballots already collected in Maine's gay-marriage referendum: the population of Maine is about 1.3 million. So rather more than 10 percent of the electorate have already cast their ballots. (Maine voters need not give a reason for requesting to vote that way.) But these votes aren't counted till today.
So given the close margin indicated in polls, and the late surge reported at the voting booths (leading to more paper ballots, which take more time to count than machine votes), it's probably going to be a while before we see a result.
Gay marriage supporters -- that is, Question 1 opponents -- are partying at the State of Maine Ballroom of the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland, Maine. We hope for their sake there's an open bar.
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