Now that Gov. John Baldacci has decided to block a referendum vote this November on a proposed racino in Washington County, state senators and representatives should do the right thing and override the governor’s veto.

The bill killed by Baldacci does not allow a racino in Washington County, Maine’s poorest region. It simply would allow Maine voters to make that decision in November rather than forcing Maine’s Indian tribes and other supporters to collect 50,000 signatures to get the question on the ballot next November.

There are several reasons why an override is warranted:

• The Legislature approved an earlier bill that would have allowed a Washington County racino without a statewide vote. Lawmakers concluded that Maine voters already had approved the concept of a racino when they endorsed one in Bangor in a referendum last November.

• Baldacci assured the public he would not veto the referendum bill if the measure garnered two-thirds support in the Senate and the House. The super-majority threshold set by the governor failed by one vote in a 186-member Legislature. Clearly the Legislature thought Maine voters could be trusted to decide the question this year.

• The state needs a lot of things, but another biting and expensive year-long campaign over something Mainers already have endorsed seems unnecessary and counterproductive. If voters have changed their minds in the last six months about allowing racetrack gambling in Maine, they are fully capable of voting it down this year rather than next.

In vetoing the referendum bill, Baldacci said he “would not stand in the way of any future effort that places the issue of … gambling before the voters.”

Why Baldacci won’t stand in the way next year but will this year is mystifying. The Legislature should vote this week to allow Mainers to vote on the question this November.

We have nothing to lose but time.