By: Sarah O’Connor, Staff Writer
In the past, Maine has had notoriously high voter turnout, with 72.8 percent of eligible citizens voting in the 2016 election, according to US News. This election cycle has included several polarizing topics, so it is no surprise that the Portland Press Herald reported that the number of early voters has doubled in the state of Maine since 2015.
The Nov. 7 ballot had several controversial topics ranging from, a proposed casino opening to Medicare expansion in Maine. The highly discussed Question 2 passed, but not without pushback from Republican Governor Paul LePage.
Question 1, which outlined the opening of a casino in York County, did not pass. 83 percent of voters voted no on the referendum. The question was designed to authorize the Maine Gambling Control Board to allow for a license to operate slot machines or a casino. It means that Shawn Scott, the majority owner of Bangor Raceway, will not be the only eligible person for the license. Shawn Scott got question 1 onto the ballot, which was worded so that he would be the only one eligible for the license.
Question 2 passed with 59 percent of Mainers voting yes. It requires the state government to provide Medicaid through MaineCare for people under 65 whose incomes are less than approximately $20,000 for an individual, or $33,000 for a household. Maine is the first state in which this vote has occurred.
LePage previously vetoed the Medicaid expansion five times. He released a statement after the vote saying, “Credit agencies are predicting that this fiscally irresponsible Medicaid expansion will be ruinous to Maine’s budget. Therefore, my administration will not implement Medicaid expansion until it has been fully funded by the Legislature [of the Department of Health and Human Services]…I will not support increasing taxes on Maine families.” Therefore, there could be an extended delay of the implementation of Question 2.
Question 3 passed with 72 percent in favor of issuing $105 million in bonds for transportation infrastructure projects. The bond issue also includes an estimated $137 million in federal and other funds.
Question 4 passed with 63 percent of voters in support of increasing the time from 10 years to 20 for the state to pay off the the Maine Public Employees Retirement System’s unfunded liabilities. These liabilities were created by experience losses, meaning losses from expected outcome versus realized outcomes of investments. People saw the state as liable to pay into the pension program.
In Gorham, the three-year seats of the school committee were filled by William Benson, Kate Livingston, and Jennifer Whitehead. Dennis Libby won the one-year term seat on the school committee.
In Portland, Jill Duson won the city council at-large seat. Timothy Atkinson won the school board district 4 seat, Marnie Morrion won the school board district 5 seat, and Mark Balfanz won the school board at-large seat. The seat of the city council district 4 was taken by Justin Costa and for city council district 5 by Kimberly Cook.
64 percent of voters voted no on the Portland rent limits, which would make Portland the first Maine city to cap rents, according to the Press Herald. 53 percent of the voters voted no on the neighborhood approval for zoning changes. Both motions for the elementary school renovations in Portland passed.
On a larger scale, the Nov. 7 election was a big win for the Democrats, as both of the newly-elected Governors of Virginia and New Jersey are democrats. Doug Jones won the senate seat in Alabama, meaning that the senate now has a democrat majority.
History was made this election as Vi Lyles won as the first African American female mayor in Charlotte, Virginia. Lyles won 58 percent of the vote, according to CBS News. She said in a press release following her win, “It’s an incredible honor to be elected Mayor of Charlotte in such a historical election.”
Danica Roem is the first openly transgender person elected and seated in a state legislature in the United States, according to the Washington Post. She defeated Bob Marshall, one of the state’s longest serving lawmakers, who was sponsoring a bill that would have restricted where transgender Virginians could go to the bathroom. Roem kept her gender identity in focus during her campaign, and made it a priority to change the culture in Richmond, Virginia.
Roem was just one transgender candidate elected on Nov. 7 because Tyler Titus, also openly transgender, won a seat on the western Pennsylvania school board, according to the Washington Post.
With high turnout from Democrats and Republicans alike, this election season proved to be a historic moment in Maine and U.S. history.