Some good resources for watching the vote returns come in for Maine’s Ballot Question 1 tonight at 8 PM:
The best site overall is the Bangor Daily News, which features the promptest results AND precincts not reporting so you can figure out trends within context.
Another website to follow is the Protect Maine Equality website, which will feature live results as they come in starting at 8:00 PM ET. The the Maine Public Broadcasting Network promised to feature results as they come in, but is so far just linking to the Bangor Daily News. But MPBN does offer audio reports every half-hour on the radio or online via the website. The Maine Secretary of State, which is responsible for elections, does not appear to have any interface for immediate reporting of election results, at least as of now. If that changes, I’ll let you know.
Remember that for interpreting Ballot Question 1 results, “Yes” means same-sex marriage will become illegal. “No” means that same-sex marriage will remain legal.
Although many people voted early and by absentee ballot, many of those votes were already entered into a counting machine before Election Day, so returns may come in relatively swiftly. Then again, I voted in Maine with the high technology of a pencil today, so full results may take a while. We’ll just have to wait and watch and see.
And for non-quantitative information, here’s a live stream of the Maine No on 1 / Protect Maine Equality party in Portland, Maine. Will it be a celebration party or a consolation party? Wait and watch and see!
With 9 precincts:
REJECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LAW
No 2071 62.97%
Yes 1218 37.03%
(Bangor Daily News blows the rest out of the water)
With 19 of 605 precincts reporting:
REJECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LAW
Yes 6611 53.39%
No 5771 46.61%
It is way too early to tell even whether this will be close or not. But any hole is something to dig out of for the NO on 1 folks.
Some Portland votes ARE included in this total. Wait and see.
Eventually, all the districts will avalanche in all at once when the middle of the bell curve falls.
But isn’t it just so much fun to watch the tails?
30 of 605 precincts reporting:
REJECT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LAW
No 14969 54.60%
Yes 12446 45.40%