Maine Prop 1 and Washington Ref 71 results

[galledgoblin]

http://elections.nytimes.com/2009/results/other.html

60% reporting Maine: Reject Gay Marriage Law
Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?
Maine: Reject Gay Marriage Law
Answer Votes Pct.
Yes 182,360 51.6%
No 171,171 48.4


13% reporting Washington: Domestic Partnerships
Approve or reject a bill that expands “the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.”
Washington: Domestic Partnerships
Answer Votes Pct.
Reject 144,036 53.6%
Approve 124,530 46.4%

not happy. votes are still being counted though, and this is still reallyreallyreally close. it could go any way before the last tallies come in.

[Bumblebee]

1. The WA one is way too early. All polls showed a strong showing for Approve

but one never knows, of course...

[Ioo]

3. Electronic voting... it is done APPROVED

[freeplessinseattle]

10. ok, wait, it just changed, now leaning approved! 52-48%

must've been certain districts skewing things. I'm going to just chill for a day or so, this could be a rollercoaster!

[Ioo]

2. Referendum Measure 71 (WA) APPROVED 52.39 % to 47.61 %

http://vote.wa.gov/Elections/WEI/Results.aspx?RaceTypeCode=M&JurisdictionTypeID=-2&ElectionID=32&ViewMode=Results

[Bumblebee]

4. Oh, good -- last time I checked ST it was losing.

great news!

[galledgoblin]

6. :D thanks for the link, NYT is slow to update.

[targetpractice]

5. Is that really how Question #1 was phrased?

Too bad... I had to read it a couple of times.

Did lack of clarity cost votes in this close situation?

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Yeah, itwas stupid. Vote yes if you want to repeal the law, but if you misread it you might

vote yes to uphold it. Referendum questions are often badly worded. x(

[targetpractice]

11. I was confused about how the "religious exception" was included in the question.

What if you were FOR marriage equality, but were AGAINST the ability for religious organizations to opt out marrying gays?

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. That was tricky, but I think a lot of people feel that they should neither

interfere with people's right to marry nor force groups to marry people if they are against, it so they wrote it to reflect that sentiment.

[targetpractice]

13. I agree with you, but...

The question does include two separate issues that are not necessarily linked.... potentially confusing 1%-3% of the voter population.

I recall the religious exception being added by the governor way back when... I wonder if that was a political calculation knowing that the passage of the gay marriage law (with religious exception) would end up as a ballot referendum.

I'm a NYC'er, but I'll bet that the today's ballot question was written long ago (when the governor agreed to the religious exception).

I've come to realize how much the republicans rely upon voter suppression, voter confusion, etc. to actually win votes. When issues are crystal clear, we win.

[ruggerson]

8. Nah, I think it's just plain old hatred

[Athelwulf]

9. WA votes by mail? That MAY mean Seattle is finally tallied LATER, if Oregon is any indication.

In 2008, when Oregon had its senatorial election, the tally was very close initially, but Republican Gordon Smith had a very slight lead. I believe this was because it was taking a while for Portland's votes to be counted. Probably because there are so many votes to count. The following day or so, however, Multnomah County finally caught up, and Jeff Merkley won.

So, not to unduly raise anyone's hopes, but I'm making a somewhat educated guess that King County will catch up later.

[Athelwulf]

14. I must be on to something. Nate Silver says King County in WA is underrepresented so far.

http://twitter.com/fivethirtyeight/status/5413217173