The Hangover

Well folks. Election day has come and gone. In Maine, the results are in, and they aren't good, so I'm having a bit of an election day hangover. Yesterday I was full of nerves, but super excited, and today I just feel 'ugh'. Since Seattle folks vote by mail, we don't get the final vote count until 4:30 PST, and the race for mayor is so close that we probably wont' have an official result on that for a few days (the current report is that McGinn is ahead by 910 votes, out of the 85,000 that have been counted), so let's get back to the news about Maine.

Maine voted to reject gay marriage. I'm appalled. I'm shocked. I'm sad. Honestly? As many have pointed out, the fact that we even put people's rights to equality to a VOTE is absurd. The fact that when give the chance to grant or deny rights to a minority group, rights that the majority group unquestionably has, and we deny those rights, just makes me sick. I don't understand how there could be so much hate, so much disillusionment that No on 1 did not prevail last night. I do firmly believe that the majority of people in Maine wished to grant same sex couples the right to marry, but that many were confused about the language on the ballot and/or confused by the Yes on 1 campaign who used lies and manipulations. The main tactic was to make people think that their whole life would be changed if they voted yes (but seriously, that's not an excuse, so what if your kids find out in school that it's totally okay to have to men or two women in a committed relationship) or...and this is what I think happened to the rural, and often older, folks in Maine, they made people think that voting 'yes' granted rights. I don't know if that all makes sense, but I want to believe that the people of Maine, overall, aren't that intolerant, but it's really hard to say with a vote like last nights.

In better news, Dow Constantine beat the pants of Susan Hutchison, thank god for that, Tim Eyman's initiative got rejected by a landslide (as far as Tim Eyman's initiatives go, at least), and Referendum 71 is trending towards 'Approved', which is fantastic. I got to go to Kay Smith-Blum's victory party last night, as she won resoundingly over the incumbent to become the new School Board member for District 5. She has great ideas, she's unbelievably well informed and I think she's going to do a great job! So. Washington election results are so far so good, but I'm really having trouble celebrating, due to the loss in Maine. Perhaps when we get the final results for the mayors race, McGinn will have won, and I can celebrate more then...