There’s a reason why the “No on 1” campaign in Northern Maine doesn’t leave voice mail messages when recruiting volunteers, or even when making reminder calls to those who signed up for a shift. Our gay volunteers may not be out to the ones they live with, or our straight allies may be living with bigoted families. That’s just one of many challenges I have seen in the past few days, as our Bangor team responsible for the northeast corner of the state mine votes for marriage equality – in a region we surely expect to lose. The fear tactics used by the opposition have more potency with swing voters up here, and the challenge of getting supporters to “vote early” is far greater. Northern Mainers are a stubborn lot, with many insisting – despite our pleas – on waiting until Election Day to vote at the polls. But we’re finding support in the most unexpected of places, and in a statewide race turning out every last vote for marriage equality is key.

If Maine defeats Question 1 on November 3rd, it will be the first time – after losing in 33 states – that marriage equality wins at the polls. “No on 1” has identified enough voters to prevail, but the problem will be voter turnout in an off-year. Our opposition candidly admitted this in yesterday’s Portland Press Herald, and the campaign has been pushing to have our supporters vote early to get a head start. In fact, our phone-bank scripts are not about persuading people to vote with us – but rather to convince them to vote early.

At the Portland phone-bank I attended on Sunday before coming up north, I didn’t get a single voter who insisted on voting at the polls on Election Day. Getting supporters to vote early (either by mail, or in person at their local City Halls starting October 15th) serves two purposes. One is that it puts votes in the bank, allowing “No on 1” to save time and money by focusing on undecided voters – a point our supporters were willing to understand and assist us with. But secondly, with “Yes on 1” only getting nastier, early voting can prevent some of our supporters from being scared by last-minute smears.

Full Story from BeyondChron: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=7427

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in Maine.

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