Question 1 appears to drive voter turnout in central Maine

Voter turnout Tuesday in central Maine appeared to be stronger than usual for an Election Day without a prominent national or statewide race, and voters and elections officials said Question 1 — involving Central Maine Power’s $1 billion transmission line project — drove that turnout.

Voting booths were set up at Waterville Junior High School and officials reported more than 1,500 ballots cast by shortly before 7 p.m.

“It’s been a steady flow all day. Earlier I was referring to it as a trickle,” said Roland Hallee, election warden for Waterville. “So far (turnout) has been pretty common for an off-year election.”

Hallee said the ballot tally included 1,400 absentee ballots that were submitted.

Election results from municipal and statewide voting were not available by the Morning Sentinel’s deadline for its print edition. But those results can be found online at centralmaine.com.

Maine residents for weeks were subjected to an intense advertising blitz over Question 1, which asked voters whether they supported CMP’s 145-mile transmission corridor stretching from Quebec to Lewiston.

Voting “yes” on the question meant stopping CMP’s work on the corridor, prohibiting “high-impact” construction of power lines in the Upper Kennebec region and giving lawmakers the final say on similar projects in Maine. A “no” vote meant allowing the construction of the corridor to continue.

Carl Rousseau, 57, of Waterville, said he did plenty of research on Question 1 and was overwhelmed by the amount of political advertising around the issue.

“Question 1 was big only because it was rammed down our throats so big,” he said. “I’m ready for those commercials to be done. I voted yes, to stop (the corridor), only because I believe Maine should get a little more out of it.”

Rousseau said he is “for green power” and said he hopes that the deal can be renegotiated among CMP and other entities so that Mainers “get a little more from it.”

Jeff Emery, 62, of Waterville, said he also voted “yes” on Question 1, explaining that, “I think we’ve done enough already in this world to destroy our land.”

In Norridgewock, Town Manager Richard LaBelle said he was hearing that people were motivated to vote by Question 1.

More locally, Norridgewock’s ballot asked residents whether they wanted to remove blue laws that had been in place for decades preventing the sale and consumption of alcohol at the same location.

The voting site in Norridgewock was also home to a COVID-19 and influenza vaccination clinic, provided by Redington-Fairview General Hospital of Skowhegan. Officials set up the clinic from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Mill Stream Elementary School.

Voters check-in before completing their election ballots Tuesday at the Skowhegan municipal building. Assisting voters were Cheryl Staples, left, and Becky Poulin. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

“We’ve been extremely busy today,” said Barbara Demchak, director of emergency medical services at the hospital.

Lisa Caswell, the hospital’s director of pharmacy, reported at least 50 doses of vaccine had been administered by lunchtime and that staff was “doing twice as much COVID-19 (vaccine) as flu” shots.

“We had a line that was wrapped around the building just to get vaccinated, not to vote,” said LaBelle, the Norridgewock town manager. “We’ve had folks here largely from the region just to get a shot.”

Neighboring Skowhegan also saw a stream of voters passing through the town’s municipal building. Town Clerk Gail Pelotte said staff had started reviewing absentee ballots last week and was still processing them on Election Day.

“We expect to process around 575 (absentee ballots),” Pelotte said.

Other statewide referendum questions included Question 2, which sought a $100 million bond to build or improve roads, bridges, railroads, airports, transit facilities and ports, with the money used to leverage about $253 million in federal and other money.

Question 3 asked voters to approve a constitutional amendment declaring the right of Mainers to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing.