AUGUSTA — Maine's political campaign season ends today when voters head to the polls to decide the fate of five statewide ballot questions, local races in dozens of communities and a handful of special legislative races.

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has predicted an unusually high turnout for an election that features no presidential, congressional or gubernatorial races. Dunlap said important state issues and contentious local races would draw voters to the polls.

But others say a lack of excitement surrounding this year's state ballot questions, coupled with predictions of rainy weather, may make such predictions overly optimistic.

"My gut tells me we shouldn't expect anything out of the ordinary" in terms of turnout, said Ron Schmidt, a political scientist at the University of Southern Maine. He said that's partly because the political spotlight has leapfrogged the 2007 election to focus on next year's presidential race and on the 2008 faceoff between Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Tom Allen.

A couple of the statewide referendum questions fueled get-out- the-vote efforts and last-minute advertisements Monday.

The most contentious statewide ballot question -- Question 1 -- would allow the Passamaquoddy Tribe to install slot machines at a harness racing track in Washington County. The question also would allow that tribe, or a combination of tribes, to offer high-stakes bingo in Washington County. It was the only one of five statewide referendum questions that generated dueling television ads.

Yes on Question 1, a political action committee that is urging voters to approve the referendum, called supporters and mobilized volunteers in a get-out-the-vote effort Monday, said spokesman Dwayne Bickford.

"We have people out in the field" knocking on doors in Portland, Bangor, Lewiston, Biddeford and Saco, Bickford said.

Casinos No!, which opposes the ballot question, sent an e-mail to its supporters Monday reminding them to vote and asking them to forward the appeal to other Mainers on the recipients' e-mail lists, said spokesman Dennis Bailey. "I think it's going to be close," Bailey predicted.

A recent statewide poll showed strong support for the proposed racino. The Critical Insights poll of 408 likely voters found that 56 percent supported Question 1, 36 percent opposed it and the rest were undecided. The poll had a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

Another question on the statewide ballot -- whether to extend term limits for state legislators from four consecutive terms to six consecutive terms -- became the focus of a campaign push in the days leading up to today's vote.

There was no advertising on either side of that issue until a PAC run by Leila Percy of Phippsburg, a Democratic state legislator who supports Question 5, launched an 11th-hour radio and newspaper ad campaign that included ads in several daily newspapers Monday. The newspaper ads featured former Gov. Angus King and George Smith of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine urging voters to let lawmakers serve longer.

State records show that Leila for Maine!, as the PAC is called, has spent more than $11,000 on advertising to promote Question 5 since Oct. 31. The late-season mini-blitz prompted opponents of the term-limits extension to file a complaint with the state.

No More Than Four, the PAC that opposes Question 5, charged Monday that Percy's PAC had failed to notify the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices that it was working on Question 5, as required by law.

Percy said Monday she amended her PAC registration last week to indicate that it is now spending money on issues and education.

But the ethics commission asked her to be more specific, and Percy further amended her registration Monday to specify that the PAC has been promoting Question 5 for the past few days.

Schmidt, the political scientist,...