Thoughts for an Election Day post-mortem
11/7/09 | 8 comments
kent ward

Thoughts for an Election Day post-mortem


By Kent Ward

It was weird the way the vote in a Bangor Daily News daily poll question on current events mirrored, in percentages, the performance of voters on Question 1 in this week’s election.

On Tuesday, 53 percent of Maine residents voting on Question 1 favored repeal of the state’s same-sex marriage law, while 47 percent voted to keep the law that had been enacted by the Legislature and signed by Gov. John Baldacci in May.

On Wednesday, the paper’s unscientific daily poll of readers asked, “Were you surprised by the Question 1 results?” Fifty-three percent of the unusually high number of respondents (4,611) in the poll indicated that they had been astonished, leaving 47 percent to profess that the outcome hadn’t surprised them at all.

Although at first glance the dueling 53-47 percentages would seem to certify Tuesday’s six-point margin of victory for the forces of repeal, the newspaper poll result begged the question: Just which faction was surprised, and why?

Was the 53 percentage bloc of surprised BDN poll respondents made up mainly of representatives of the 47 percent of voters on the losing side of Tuesday’s referendum Question 1, and were they surprised because they had lost? Or did the readers expressing surprise in the BDN poll come preponderantly from the prevailing side in Tuesday’s voting, and were they surprised because they had won?

Conversely, were the nonsurprised stalwarts in the newspaper poll not surprised because they are unflappable souls, not given to that sort of thing? Or were they not surprised because they had been sure that the demographics — the urban-rural divide that defines Maine’s differing views on marriage, depicted so dramatically in a front-page graphic in Thursday’s newspaper — would tip the vote in favor of repeal?

There is no way of knowing, I suppose, just as it may never be known why the straightforward constitutional amendment proposed in Question 7 on Tuesday’s ballot got shot down by the electorate.

It’s difficult to imagine a more innocuous proposal than this one which would have given municipal clerks more time to certify signatures on direct initiative petitions submitted by Maine residents seeking to insert themselves into the legislative process.

Backed by the Maine Town and City Clerks Association, the amendment would not have cut into the time allotted for the gathering of the thousands of signatures required to get a referendum question on the ballot. It represented a win-win situation for all parties involved and was not “repugnant to the Constitution” of Maine, to employ language used by framers of that document at the pre-statehood constitutional convention of 1819 in Portland.

Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn told BDN reporter Christopher Cousins two weeks ago that the run-up to this week’s election was a prime example of the need for the change. She noted that in late 2008, five petition drives were nearing completion, including those that led to four questions on Tuesday’s ballot. Each drive needed 55,087 verified signatures, a figure that represents 10 percent of the turnout in the last gubernatorial election. Municipal clerks, working overtime in many cases, were hard-pressed to meet their deadlines while simultaneously maintaining a happy face for the public.

A bill creating the proposed constitutional amendment, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Beaudette, D-Biddeford, sailed through the Legislature as an apple pie-and-motherhood issue that drew nary an unkind word. If there was a sure thing on Tuesday’s ballot upon which to bet your week’s paycheck, it seemed that approval of this proposition would be it.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the polls. More than 543,000 Mainers voted on the issue, which was a pretty fair Election Day turnout for this type of off-year ho-hummer. This was a good thing. Unfortunately for the municipal clerks, 52 percent of those voters gave the proposition two thumbs down, while only 48 percent gave it two thumbs up. For paycheck-betting purposes, that was not such a good thing.

The consensus among several clerks I spoke with after the election was that the proposal was likely upstaged by sexier fare on the menu. Many voters may not have understood what the change entailed, and on that basis had declined to vote for it, they suggested.

The skeptic in me has a different theory, which is that the question was so simply put it aroused voter suspicion. Like a hitter in baseball badly fooled by a fastball when expecting a curve ball, an electorate weaned on rations of confusing ballot questions worded so “yes” means “no,” and vice versa, does not easily make such a sudden adjustment to truth in advertising, if you will, or candor in politics.

As my Down East friends would tell you, “It’s hahd.”

BDN columnist Kent Ward lives in Limestone. Readers may reach him by e-mail at olddawg@bangordailynews.net.

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Comments
8 comments on this item
On 11/6/09 at 9:59 PM, ElectraGlide wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Hi kent ~~~ I think it was the same thing for 7 as with most of the others if not all.

Hate and ignorance voting on the No on #1 issue and actually voting againts Equality which clearly 53% do not understand what that is.

Hate for government spending and also being misinformed of what was at stake.

Afraid to try anything new except to hate everything to do with ole Baldi wanted or knowing the difference between right and wrong.

Hate for # 7 as I agree should of been a given

But that Vote on #7 says oh so much about the uninformed that do not seem to want to learn what they are voting on.

There has got to be some kind of test to determine a voters thought process other then hate.

To be able to vote againts what America Stands for and the US Constitution is just craziness.

Something has got to be done about the refer: having only 10% a minority, makes it so a very important vote about Equal Rights Issue gets to be voted on is flat out Crazy.

When 5% of a towns population can vote for the town budget.

Don`t tell me that that can be fixed. Try that in a very small town that is controlled by 20% of its citizens and nothing gets done except what that 20% wants.

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On 11/7/09 at 12:19 AM, v_4_victory wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Again, it's neither bigoted nor wrong to oppose same-sex "marriage." The facts showing why are here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=acfe7a2670ef459bac8e153c7ff7bf2b&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3aacfe7a2670ef459bac8e153c7ff7bf2bPost%3aa706f8a8-242c-4f24-b4fd-2f15918bdcaa&sid=sitelife.desmoinesregister.com

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On 11/7/09 at 7:33 AM, PabMainer wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Kent it sounds like you are assuming (and not very carefully) that the Post question #1 "Surprised" poll was answered by only Maine voters....as has been pointed out several times for example with the "thumbs down" feature, blame is not always due where first directed.....this comment section is visited by people from around the country and even by folks in foreign lands.....due to the national attention question #1 generated it very well could be that many of those who responded to the poll question are not Maine citizens or voters....speculation at it's best is just that, one's opinion....and as far as question #7, how many times on every day jobs in the last few years has anyone had the opportunity to be given more time to do their current job duties they have been doing in recent times....the theme in business is do more with less help and support and for less money....the clerks have a job to do just like anyone else and the obvious struggle to balance state and local gov't budgets is as important as any other piece of our economy at this point in time....giving them "extra" days to perform a particular job responsibility, and here I go speculating, would have allowed for stretching out the job for a few more days at a greater cost to the tax payer....just my humble opinion....

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On 11/7/09 at 7:59 AM, cinnamon wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Was I surprised at the outcome of question 1. No not really. Protect Maine Equality people knew we had an uphill battle, We put a real face to gay and lesbian families, and were barraged with yes advertising that I couldn't even let my children watch. After the election I did genuinely feel that I had been shamed by a 53 percent of the voters. I am not ashamed of who I am or of my family. But when so many do not see my family as valid or equal there is a real sense of being shamed that resulted.

No I wasn't surprised, but on another level, I was astonished. Astonished that so many 47 percent were able to understand what this vote really represented, and stood with us. 267,000 people voted NO. There are whole towns now that I know we are accepted and wanted and valued. There are other places in Maine where I now know I will never feel as comfortable as I once did.

This has been a polarizing election for many of us. I no longer want anything to do with certain religious groups and won't set foot in their churches again for any reason. I can't see them as a force for good in the community as I once did.

In his victory speed Marc Mutty stated that now is the time for healing. What he doesn't understand as that the type of wound the gay and lesbian community received this week was a soul altering wound. It is not something that is going to heal as he suggested. Many years ago I tragically lost two precious little girls. They lie side by side in the graveyard. When I think of them as I often do, I can still easily cry and feel their loss intensely. I have a feeling that having my civil rights voted away is going to stay with me in the same way as loosing my children. It will always carry an edge of rawness because the effects of this loss are with me everyday.

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On 11/7/09 at 8:34 AM, joesalters wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

NEXT. WE NEED TO GET RID OF BALDACCI & LEGISLATORS THAT STARTED THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

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On 11/7/09 at 8:48 AM, JD2008 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

v_4_victory I have never put a great deal of faith in blogs. Do you have any scientific data from an accredited, peer reviewed medical and/or scientific journal?

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On 11/7/09 at 9:45 AM, ElectraGlide wrote: Click here to view hidden comment         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
On 11/7/09 at 1:07 PM, HarryHSnyderIII wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I voted against #7 because six people in my town (which has not changed much in year round population over the years) now do the job that one town clerk did better 30 years ago. Joan Jasper (a wonderful humorous, helpful lady) once got up at 11Pm to write a fishing license for me. My children had talked me into an early fishing trip up to Cold Stream Pond the following day. so Mrs Jasper came downstairs in her pajamas, and did what I dare say no one in Whiting would do today.

We also (out here in the sticks) have ponied up for two computers, and a consulting firm, and of course the Maine Municipal Association (a worthless organization which teaches town officials how to do their job without being sued. Of course we never had a lawsuit against the town till the MMA steped in.

Anyway, that was my vote, My 93 year old mother went to the polls and also voted NO on seven, I couldn't convince her to vote Yes on 4 (she is a life-long teacher) but she did vote no one one. She and my dad were married 65 years, and she said she didn't feel her marriage was at all threatened by allowing another group to join the "fun"/

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