MAINE — Voters appeared to strongly support passage of a $100 million bond for transportation projects and the “right to food” constitutional amendment based on partial voting results Tuesday night, Nov. 2.
With 385 of 571 voting precincts reporting results at 11 p.m., 71 percent of votes cast supported the bond proposal and 29 percent opposed it.
In Franklin County, with all but Rangeley Plt. and Sandy River Plt. reporting, voters in every town favored the spending package.
Most of the money – $85 million – would go toward highways and bridges, while $15 million would go to other projects focusing on rail, aviation and ports. If approved, the proposal will bring in $253 million in federal funds.
“Do you favor a $100,000,000 bond issue to build or improve roads, bridges, railroads, airports, transit facilities and ports and make other transportation investments, to be used to leverage an estimated $253,000,000 in federal and other funds?”
It would be paid back over a 10-year period, with interest.
With Question 2 appearing to be headed for passage, Maine Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note issued a statement thanking Maine voters.
“The $100 million general obligation bonds connected to Question 2 will trigger up to $253 million in other investments from federal, local, and private partners,” he said. “Combined, this funding represents about 40 percent of what MaineDOT spends on transportation funding every year. Without these funds, we simply could not do our job for the people who live, work, and travel in Maine.”
Such bonds have passed by healthy margins over the last half-dozen years. If it doesn’t pass, then projects could get cut or pushed back.
Question 3 asked voters if they favored an amendment to the Maine Constitution “to declare that all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being.” Nothing similar has been attempted in any other state.
At the latest count, statewide the vote was 245,595 to 158,129 with 13 towns still to report.
Voters in all 21 towns in Franklin County favored the amendment.
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