Maine Could Split Its Electoral Vote--AP

[Gloria]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MAINE_VOTING?SITE=MYPSP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Oct 12, 2:16 PM EDT

Maine Could Split Its Electoral Vote

By DAVID SHARP
Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- People who live here say there are two different Maines - the liberal, populous and wealthy southern coast and the conservative, sparsely populated and poorer north.

Those different Maines could split its four electoral votes by awarding one candidate three votes and the other candidate the one remaining. That lone electoral vote could determine the election: in 2000, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore 271-266, barely collecting the 270 electoral votes required for victory.

Under state law, Maine awards two electoral votes to the statewide winner and one apiece to the winner in each of its congressional districts. The state has not split its electoral votes since adopting that system in 1969.

Four years ago, Gore won 49 percent of the statewide vote to 44 percent for Bush. In the southern 1st District, Gore won by a comfortable 27,675 votes. To the north, though, he won by only 5,660 votes in the 2nd District.

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[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. Maine and Nebraska DO split their electoral votes by districts.....

but Colorado's referendum will do it by percentage of votes each candidate recieves state wide

[T Town Jake]

2. What would be great is if...

...Colorado adopts the split electoral vote system like Maine has on election night, then Kerry will pick up the EV from the blue parts of that state. I haven't heard how that ballot initiative is doing in Colorado. Anyone know?

[liberal N proud]

3. Wouldn't this require a change in the states constitution?

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

5. Maine allows the electoral votes to be split.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

4. True... there are sort of two Maines

There's the central and southern areas, where almost everyone lives. There are very few people that are from "the county" (a.k.a Aroostook County). Aroostook is the massive county of wilderness in northern Maine.

BTW, most of the people in the southern coastal towns that are wealthy are out-of-staters, like the Bushes. Most real Mainers, folks that live there all year long, are not wealthy, even the ones in southern Maine.

There are a lot of liberal places in Maine outside of the large towns like Portland. Portland area people always like to claim their town to be the most liberal in the state. There are places like Starks or Athens that are more liberal, but they are small towns. Lots of ex-hippies live in these places.

I'm not sure what district Watervile area and Bangor area are in, probably in district 2 along with Aroostook county. I've run into tons of very liberal people in this area of Maine. Trust me, they are there. There are also some dumb hicks, people I never associated with. They'll most likely vote republican because they are not smart enough to know better. I don't know much about "the county", but I imagine there are a lot more republicans up there, which might make the vote more 50/50. Aroostook county is so isolated. The rest of the state really isn't very aware of whatever is happening up there.

[expatriot]

6. Dean and Al Franken need to go to the "poorer" northern district and...

...them to vote their interests!

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. In the St. Johns valley near Madawaska and St. Agathe...

...there are a lot -- well, up there 'a lot' is 10,000 -- of people who are both very Catholic and very French.

These are the voters who defeated the civil rights referendum on discrimination against gays.

The Franco vote in this area is very conservative, but proud of its heritage. For generations, the 'Niggers of the North' have been the butt of jokes. In this state, a bonehead play on the basketball court is likely to be greeted by "what are you, French?'

If the Acadians are sick of all the 'surrender monkey' talk, and all the ethnic slurs and Kerry = French = Evil talk, then they may not be automatic Republican votes.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

9. Interesting...

I've never heard anyone use the word "French" as an insult, while I was living there. I've never heard "Niggers of the North" either. Of course I moved away a little bit before the whole "freedom fries" business came about. A lot of people in Maine, including myself, have French Canadian heritage. Most Mainers no longer speak French, except for some way up north. Still, it seems kind of strange that Mainers would be insulting the French when so many of them (not just the ones in Aroostook county) have French Canadian ancestors.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

8. That might actually help.

I think those people would appreciate someone considering their votes important enough to travel all the way up there to see them.