Maine Voters Reject Gay Marriage

For the second time in as many years, gay-marriage supporters yesterday suffered a narrow -- but stinging -- defeat at the polls. By a margin of 53-47 percent, voters in Maine elected to overturn a state law that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry, a result that headlined the day's ballot measures.

The result stalled momentum for same-sex marriage that had built this year. It also mirrored California's Proposition 8 vote last year, when voters overturned gay marriage in that state with 52 percent of the vote.

The legislature in Maine, as in New England neighbors New Hampshire and Vermont, had voted earlier this year to legalize gay marriage. But, under Maine's "People's Veto" rule, voters may submit signatures to challenge new laws on the ballot. Social conservatives did just that, and have now succeeded in blocking the gay-marriage law from taking effect.

On the opposite coast, voters in Washington State also weighed in on gay rights. The state was voting on whether to uphold a law that granted same-sex couples all of the same rights as married couples (though the unions are referred to as "domestic partnerships""). As of early this morning, voters were upholding the law with 51 percent of the vote, but the result remained uncertain. Washington, which votes heavily by mail, allows any ballot postmarked by Election Day to be counted, which often prevents election results from being known for days.

Washington and Maine also were rejecting measures designed to limit the size of government. For the second time in four years, Maine voters turned down a "taxpayer's bill of rights" -- a measure that would have limited increases in spending based on population growth and inflation and required public votes on tax increases.

Washington voters turned down a similar measure, which had been championed by the state's prolific small-government ballot-measure advocate, Tim Eyman. Eyman had promoted the cap on state and local government revenues as a way to keep down property taxes, but critics' arguments that it would have crippled public services appeared to win the day.

Maine voters also weighed in on other hotly contested ballot measures. Voters decided to expand medical-marijuana access, through a measure that will allow dispensaries for the drug around the state. Experts said that the move gave Maine some of the nation's most permissive medical marijuana laws.

And Maine voters chose not to overturn a school-consolidation law that has been one of the top political issues in the state since 2007. That's when the legislature, at the prodding of Gov. John Baldacci, created financial incentives for small school districts to merge. The initiative to reserve the law failed soundly, as arguments that the consolidations trampled on local control failed to win over voters.

Elsewhere, in Ohio, voters approved a measure that would allow for the creation of four casinos in the state. The proposal, which was advocated by Dan Gilbert, the millionaire owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, was sold as a jobs creator. The measure won a narrow victory, despite opposition from critics including Gov. Ted Strickland, who said it was a bad deal for the state.

And in Texas, voters approved constitutional amendments to create new restrictions on eminent domain and to direct more money to higher education.