LEWISTON – Voters go to the polls today with a lot at stake.

At the top of the ticket, Mainers will choose a governor.

The choices:

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci is running for re-election. He’s being challenged by Republican state Sen. Chandler Woodcock, independent state Rep. Barbara Merrill, Green independent Pat LaMarche and Phillip NaPier, a second independent.

A poll by SurveyUSA released Sunday showed a tightened race. Baldacci was leading with 36 percent of the vote, Woodcock was at 30 percent, Merrill had 21 percent and LaMarche was at 11 percent.

The poll, done exclusively for WCSH-TV in Portland and WLBZ-TV in Bangor, showed Merrill gaining ground at the expense of Baldacci and Woodcock. The information was made public Monday morning.

Candidates have kept a brutal schedule during the campaign’s final hours.

Baldacci focused Monday on southern Maine, with plans to travel the entire length of the state by plane today. He’ll be in Lewiston this afternoon.

Woodcock hitched his electoral hopes to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights bus. He appeared with the Yes on One Express on Sunday, attending rallies around the state, including one in Lewiston.

LaMarche was also on tour with her Hometown Hospital Healthcare tour, which visited hospitals around the state and finished up on Monday.

And Merrill, traveling by car, made stops from Bath to Lewiston to Millinocket. She’ll be back in Auburn today.

The entire Legislature – all 35 state Senate seats and 151 state House seats – are up for grabs. Going into the election, Democrats held a slim majority in both chambers.

The margin in the Senate is three seats, with Democrats in control 19-16. In the House, the margin is razor thin. There are 74 Democrats, 73 Republicans, one Green independent and three independents.

At stake: The power to set the legislative agenda.

There are also two referendum questions on the ballot.

Question 1 has, by far, gotten the most attention.

Known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Question 1 asks voters: “Do you want to limit increases in state and local government spending to the rate of inflation plus population growth and to require voter approval for all tax and fee increases?”

The proposal would place strict limits on local, county and state government’s ability to raise and spend money. It would also require a two-step process to override the limits. First, a two-thirds vote of the governing body would be required. Then, the override would also have to be approved by referendum.

The SurveyUSA poll, which was conducted Nov. 2-4, also found that 50 percent of voters said they were certain to vote “no” on TABOR, while 33 percent said they were certain to vote “yes.” Seventeen percent said they were still undecided.

Question 2 has flown largely under the radar this election cycle. There’s no organized opposition or support for the constitutional amendment, which would clarify the rules around how signatures are collected on statewide petition drives.

The question reads: “Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to state that a citizens’ initiative or people’s veto petition must be submitted to local or state officials by the constitutional deadline in order to be certified and, in the case of a citizens’ initiative, must be filed with the Secretary of State within 18 months?”

Besides the state races, there are three federal races on the ballot.

Republican U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe is running for re-election against Democrat Jean Hay Bright and independent William Slavick.

In the 1st Congressional District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Allen is running for re-election against Republican Darlene Curley and independent Dexter Kamilewicz.

In the 2nd Congressional District, which includes Lewiston and Auburn, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud is being challenged by Republican Scott D’Amboise.

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