Franklin County’s election results: updated with totals and comparisons

FRANKLIN COUNTY – Mainers turned out to vote Tuesday, voting on seven ballot questions that generated above-average interest for an off-election year.

Generally, Franklin County residents voted in line with the rest of the state. Question 1, the repeal of LD 1020, the so-called “gay marriage law,” passed by a slightly wider margin (six point difference) across the county than the state. Farmington, Carrabassett Valley and Coplin Plantation were the only communities to vote against the people’s veto on Question 1.

The major difference between county and state returns was in Question 3 (11 point  difference), which asked voters to repeal the school district consolidation process and return all laws to their 2007 status. The repeal effort actually passed in Franklin County, with 52 percent of residents seeking to overturn district consolidation, while failing to gain popular support across the state, with only 41 percent of Mainers voting in favor. Towns in MSAD 58 (Strong, Eustis, Avon, Phillips, Kingfield) voted strongly in favor of the repeal, while other communities tended to vote either to keep current laws in place or were roughly split on the issue.

[Editor’s Note: The vote for Industry on Question 1 has been corrected to read 243 in favor (rather than 423). The mistake was entirely our own, for which we apologize.]

Unofficial vote totals for COUNTY, 21 towns reporting:

Question 1 (repeal gay marriage): 8,040 YES / 5,667 NO    – 59.2% in favor
Question 2 (reduce excise tax): 3,321 YES / 10,234 NO      – 24.5% in favor
Question 3 (repeal school cons.): 6,932 YES / 6,419 NO     – 51.9% in favor
Question 4 (pass TABOR II): 5,459 YES / 8,039 NO              – 40.4% in favor
Question 5 (expand medical pot): 8,065 YES / 5,558 NO    – 59.2% in favor
Question 6 (approve bond issue): 8,459 YES / 4,899 NO    – 63.3% in favor
Question 7 (constitution change): 6,132 YES / 7,076 NO    – 46.4% in favor

Unofficial vote totals for STATE, 96% precincts reporting:

(Information provided by statewide news reports)
Question 1 (repeal gay marriage): 296K YES / 265K NO    – 52.8% in favor
Question 2 (reduce excise tax): 144K YES / 411K NO        – 26.0% in favor
Question 3 (repeal school cons.): 224K YES / 316K NO     – 41.5% in favor
Question 4 (pass TABOR II): 219K YES / 332K NO             – 39.8% in favor
Question 5 (expand medical pot): 327K YES / 231K NO    – 58.7% in favor
Question 6 (approve bond issue): 359K YES / 190K NO    – 65.5% in favor
Question 7 (constitution change): 257K YES / 281K NO    – 47.8% in favor

Here are Franklin County’s unofficial election results, by town:

Question 1 (People’s Veto Question): “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?”

Question 2 (Citizen Initiative): “Do you want to cut the rate of the municipal excise tax by an average of 55% on motor vehicles less than six years old and exempt hybrid and other alternative-energy and highly fuel-efficient motor vehicles from sales tax and three years of excise tax?”

Question 3 (Citizen Initiative): “Do you want to repeal the 2007 law on school district consolidation and restore the laws previously in effect?”

Question 4 (Citizen Initiative): “Do you want to change the existing formulas that limit state and local government spending and require voter approval by referendum for spending over those limits and for increases in state taxes?”

Question 5 (Citizen Initiative): “Do you want to change the medical marijuana laws to allow treatment of more medical conditions and to create a regulated system of distribution?”

Question 6 (Bond Issue): “Do you favor a $71,250,000 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges, airports, public transit facilities, ferry and port facilities, including port and harbor structures, as well as funds for the LifeFlight Foundation that will make the State eligible for over $148,000,000 in federal and other matching funds?”

Question 7 (Constitutional Question): “Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to increase the amount of time that local officials have to certify the signatures on direct initiative petitions?”