First of three parts
AUGUSTA — Maine is at the center of a divisive national debate that touches on religion, family, children and sexuality, political scientists say.
And it's all about gay marriage.
"This is the first real statewide vote to preserve same-sex marriage as opposed to trying to ban it," said Jim Melcher, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Farmington.
"It's startling for people in Maine to be in that hurricane, but, when you think about it, where else would it be more likely?"
Melcher points to several factors to back that up.
Maine is one of 24 states to have a people's veto process to allow citizens to call for a public vote, which is how Question 1 came to be on the ballot.
New England has been more gay-friendly than other parts of the country in recent years.
Advertising for these types of campaigns is much cheaper in Maine than in other parts of the country, he said.
Also, Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders targeted New England with a campaign to make gay marriage legal in all six states by 2012.
And, Maine-based groups have traveled the state for the last three years talking to different people about the issue.
Among New England states, gay marriage is currently legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont.
New Hampshire will begin allowing same-sex marriages in January and Maine's law is on hold pending the outcome of the November vote.
In Rhode Island, a bill to allow gay marriage did not make it out of a legislative committee and the governor there opposes same-sex marriage.
The only other state in the country to allow gay marriage is Iowa, where a court ruling this spring made it legal.
Yet, while gay rights activists tout their recent success, 30 states have voter-approved constitutional prohibitions against same-sex marriage.
Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Orono, said on this "off-off year election" – there are no major candidate races on the ballot – Maine will be prominently featured on national news programs when the election night returns come in.
"The outcome is highly uncertain at this point," he said. "I personally don't see this being decided by more than five points one way or the other." Recent public opinion polls have given a slight edge to opponents of same-sex marriage, with a small percentage of people still undecided.
Melcher said two things have struck him as somewhat surprising about the Maine campaign.
One is the heavy involvement of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which took up a second collection plate at churches to raise money to repeal gay marriage.
And the other is the effort by gay activists to draw people from out of state to work on the campaign by asking them to take vacation time.
"An awful lot of the country is looking at this," he said.
Only one other state – Washington – will vote on a gay rights issue this fall as voters there consider whether to repeal that state's domestic partner registry.
Dubbed the "everything but marriage" law, it gives "state-registered domestic partners the full array of rights and responsibilities that married couples enjoy," according to the Washington Secretary of State's Office.
When it comes to marriage – specifically whether to repeal a new state law that allows gay and lesbian couples to marry in Maine – the Pine Tree state is where it's at this election cycle.
Both sides are making use of expertise and money from California, where gay activists suffered a setback last year when voters approved Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage.
A court ruling that followed upheld the vote, which outlawed gay marriages but allowed the 18,000 gay couples who wed before the vote to stay legally married.
Early on...
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