AUGUSTA — For the second day of the Question 1 recount, neither side of the casino issue gained votes.

That wasn’t a surprise to Dennis Bailey of CasinosNo!, who said he expected changes to come in smaller towns where ballots are counted by hand rather than machines.

“We’re still counting machine ballots, Bailey said Friday. He has been one of the volunteer counters representing casino opponents.

What was a surprise was that the 20 counters, 10 representing each side, finished recounting all of Portland’s roughly 27,000 ballots, according to Mark Robinson, spokesman for Black Bear Entertainment.

On Thursday, eight volunteers counted about 20,000 ballots from South Portland and Scarborough. Counting begins again at 9 a.m. Monday, when volunteers will count ballots from Lewiston and Bangor.

When unofficial results from the Nov. 2 election showed pro-casino votes winning by less than 1 percent, CasinosNo! and Oxford Hills No on 1 filed for a recount. Each side must provide 10 volunteers to count in pairs while a state employee oversees.

Black Bear Entertainment has already chosen a site and consultants to start building a resort and casino on Route 26 in Oxford. Members will hold a public hearing on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School auditorium in Paris. Doors open at 6 p.m. and those attending will have time to meet Black Bear’s consultants before the presentation.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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