Stakes Are High in Maine's Vote on Gay Marriage

Kathy Stickel holds a sign while joining supporters who turned out for a gay-rights supporter rally...

Kathy Stickel holds a sign while joining supporters who turned out for a gay-rights supporter rally the day before election day in Portland, Maine, on Monday, Nov. 2, 2009. Gay marriage has lost in every single state in which it has been put to a popular vote. Come Election Day, gay-rights supporters are hoping to make Maine the exception. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)

(AP)

Bolstered by out-of-state money and volunteers, both sides jockeyed Monday to boost turnout for a Maine referendum that could give gay-rights activists in the U.S. their first victory at the ballot box on the deeply divisive issue of same-sex marriage.

The state's voters will decide Tuesday whether to repeal a law that would allow gay marriage. The law was passed by the Legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci last May but has never taken effect.

The contest is considered too close to call, and both campaigns worked vigorously — with rallies, phone calls, e-mails and ads — to be sure their supporters cast votes in the off-year election.

If voters uphold the law, it will be the first time the electorate in any state has endorsed marital rights for same-sex couples, energizing activists nationwide and deflating a long-standing conservative argument that gay marriage lacks popular support.

Conversely, a repeal — in New England, the corner of the country most receptive to same-sex marriage — would be a jolting setback for the gay-rights movement and mark the first time voters overturned a gay-marriage law enacted by a legislature. When Californians voters rejected gay marriage a year ago, it was in response to a court ruling, not legislation.

Elsewhere around the country, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is locked in a tight battle for re-election in New Jersey, Republican Bob McDonnell is heavily favored in the race for Virginia governor, a hotly contested special congressional election in upstate New York has exposed a rift in the GOP between moderates and conservatives, and billionaire Michael Bloomberg is expected to coast to victory in his bid for a third term as mayor of New York.

Apart from Maine, five states have legalized same-sex marriage — Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. But all did so via legislation or court rulings, not through a popular vote. By contrast, constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have been approved in all 30 states where they have reached the ballot.