ELECTION 2021-RANKED VOTING
Maine city becomes 2nd in state to adopt ranked voting
WESTBROOK, Maine (AP) — Voters in a Maine city have decided that they want their hometown to be the second in the state to use a ranked form of voting. Westbrook will join Portland in using ranked choice due to Tuesday’s vote. The method is also used for presidential, U.S. Senate and U.S. House races in Maine. Statewide voters approved of it in 2016. The method allows voters to assign their choices a rank in races that have more than two candidates. Votes are reallocated if no candidate cracks 50% of the initial vote.
AP-ME—ELECTION 2021-HYDROPOWER TRANSMISSION CORRIDOR
Mainers vote to halt $1B electric transmission line
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Mainers have voted to halt a 145-mile conduit for Canadian hydropower. The project was billed as either a bold step in battling climate change or unnecessary destruction of woodlands. Utilities poured more than $90 million into the battle over the $1 billion project ahead of the referendum vote on Tuesday. In the end, Mainers gave their disapproval. Critics contend the project’s environmental benefits were overstated, and that it would forever change the forestland. But the statewide vote won’t be the final word. Litigation over the project will continue long after the votes are counted.
ELECTION 2021-RIGHT TO FOOD
Maine passes nation’s 1st ‘right to food’ amendment
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine voters passed the nation’s first “right to food” constitutional amendment. A statewide referendum asked voters on Tuesday if they favored an amendment to the Maine Constitution to declare that all individuals have an inherent right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing. Supporters used the campaign to make the case the amendment would ensure the right to grow vegetables and raise livestock in an era when corporatization threatens local ownership of the food supply.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-UMAINE STUDENTS
98% of UMaine System students have verified COVID-19 shot
ORONO, Maine (AP) — Nearly all University of Maine System students who live on campus have verified their COVID-19 vaccination status. The university system, which includes the flagship University of Maine in Orono, said Tuesday that almost 98% of those students had verified. It also said 93% of full-time system employees had verified their status. The system announced during the summer that it would require COVID-19 vaccines for all students who attended campuses starting this fall.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MAINE
Hundreds of health care workers gone over vaccine mandate
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Most of Maine’s health care workers are on the job this week but hundreds opted to quit or be dismissed over the state’s vaccine mandate. The Portland Press Herald reports that MaineHealth expected to lose about 350 to 400 workers while Northern Light Health said 195 workers resigned. Central Maine Healthcare lost 156 employees, and MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta lost 191 workers. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to stop the mandate from going into effect.
FATAL FIRE
Fire marshals investigate Maine blaze that killed child
SOUTH PARIS, Maine (AP) — Authorities in Maine say they are investigating a fire in South Paris that killed a 5-year-old child. WGME-TV reports the State Fire Marshal’s Office said the child died at a hospital after the Tuesday afternoon fire. Authorities did not release the name of the child or a potential cause of the fire on Tuesday. The fire took place in a residential neighborhood west of the Androscoggin River.