Volunteer counters occasionally set aside small numbers of ballots that could be challenged because they had been mismarked or may not have been counted properly. On one ballot, for example, a voter filled in the "o" in the word "No" instead of filling in the oval next to it. On another, a voter colored in circles above "Yes" but didn't fill in the oval.
The painstaking recount got underway just over one month before the historic new law is set to take effect, and the process of reviewing as many as 700,000 ballots from roughly 500 communities could delay implementation of the law even if the review does not uncover enough counting errors to overturn the results.
The law -- which is now scheduled to take effect by Jan. 7 -- would make Maine one of eight states to allow adults 21 and older to use marijuana as a recreational drug. The legalization votes in Maine and other states in November were seen by advocates as tipping the balance toward nationwide legalization, although uncertainty about the policies of the incoming Trump administration is chilling the enthusiasm.
Maine's law, if it stands, would go a step further than other states, by also allowing state-licensed marijuana social clubs where people could smoke the drug in a social setting and not just in the privacy of their homes. Social clubs and marijuana stores would likely not open in Maine until January 2018 because the state would need to set up rules and licensing standards.
The marijuana recount started at 9 a.m. in the Florian Room of the Maine Department of Public Safety in Augusta. And the first ballots to be recounted were from Portland, where residents voted 24,594 to 13,008 in favor of Question 1.
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The law -- which is now scheduled to take effect by Jan. 7 -- would make Maine one of eight states to allow adults 21 and older to use marijuana as a recreational drug. The legalization votes in Maine and other states in November were seen by advocates as tipping the balance toward nationwide legalization, although uncertainty about the policies of the incoming Trump administration is chilling the enthusiasm.
Maine's law, if it stands, would go a step further than other states, by also allowing state-licensed marijuana social clubs where people could smoke the drug in a social setting and not just in the privacy of their homes. Social clubs and marijuana stores would likely not open in Maine until January 2018 because the state would need to set up rules and licensing standards.
The marijuana recount started at 9 a.m. in the Florian Room of the Maine Department of Public Safety in Augusta. And the first ballots to be recounted were from Portland, where residents voted 24,594 to 13,008 in favor of Question 1.
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3 comments:
As I looked at this piece reference a recount, I thought does everything get recounted until it goes the way a certain population wants it to go.
Then it hit me. Years ago I worked with a group and when things got hectic or out of sorts, a meeting was called to report to the office. Often this was called to please a certain few that wanted things done the way it suited them. So...a vote was made to make this happen. But, I kit you not, if it didn't go their way, a time later there would be another vote until "they" were satisfied.
"Volunteer counters occasionally set aside small numbers of ballots that could be challenged because they had been mismarked or may not have been counted properly."
If you're not smart enough to fill in your ballot correctly, then you shouldn't have your ballot counted. Bring back the poll tax.
Legal pot= BIG Mistake
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