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BY SCOTT MONROE
Staff Writer 11/04/2009

BY SCOTT MONROE

Staff Writer

About 7 Tuesday night, with an hour remaining until the polls closed, Town Clerk Pam Smiley left the Veterans of Foreign Wars building in Winslow.

She was driving back to the Town Office to get more ballots. Election officials were running out, and a massive line of voters continued out the door.

"It's unbelievable," Smiley said. "It's been steady, steady, steady. I didn't expect this."

Though official tallies weren't in, Smiley expected voter turnout to exceed 50 percent; so did officials in Waterville. The large turnout for an off-year election appeared on Tuesday to be playing out statewide.

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap initially estimated that 35 percent of Mainers would vote, then increased that projection to more than 50 percent by the afternoon.

Big voter turnout was the message Gov. John Baldacci got as well, as he visited several polling stations across the state, including those in Augusta and Waterville. Baldacci said he met with students at Colby College to hear about their get-out-the-vote effort before stopping at the American Legion on College Avenue, where Waterville residents cast their ballots.

"Turnout is more than expected," Baldacci said. "It's terrific to see a lot of nice people exercising their leadership" to vote.

Roland D. Hallee, warden in Ward 6 in Waterville, told Baldacci that more than 2,000 absentee ballots had been counted and he expected close to half of Waterville's registered voters to turn out by day's end.

"For an off-year, that's excellent," Hallee said. "The first few hours it was a mob scene, and we've been pretty steady all day."

Outside the American Legion, a handful of voters who were exiting the building shared their thoughts on the election. They primarily cited Question 1, same-sex marriage, and Question 4, the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR II, as being the key reasons why they came to vote.

Mike Finnemore, 27, said he voted yes on Question 1 because he thinks marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman. He also voted against Question 4, because "I just feel it's fiscal regulation, not fiscal restriction."

Nancy Wynne, 82, said she was motivated to come out and vote no on Question 1.

"It's a matter of civil rights and equality and it's to everybody's benefit," Nancy Wynne said.

They also lamented what they called "misleading" advertising on both the same-sex marriage and TABOR questions.

George Miller, 60, a philosophy professor at the University of Maine at Farmington, said he voted no on his two top issues: the same-sex marriage repeal and TABOR. Miller said he believes marriage is ceremonially and culturally important for committed same-sex couples, and that the TABOR proposal has proven to be harmful, based on Colorado's experience.

Even though it's an off-year election, "people are interested; people are talking about it," Miller said.

In Farmington, Town Clerk Leann Pinkham said voter traffic at the Community Center was steady all day and, by late afternoon, picking up.

"As of about 4:30 p.m., we've had 1,960 ballots cast, which is good for an off-year election," she said.

Pinkham did note that fewer new voters from the University of Maine at Farmington were registering Tuesday than in past years, because a strong voter registration drive was held on campus and many people had voted early.

More than 750 absentee ballots had been submitted, which was slightly more than for prior off-year elections, Pinkham said.

Staff writer Betty Jespersen contributed to this report.

Scott Monroe -- 861-9253

smonroe@centralmaine.com

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