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Question 1: Maine’s 31st People’s Veto Referendum

8 mins read

By Paul Mills

On March 3, for the first time in 20 years, Maine will have a presidential primary election. It will be only the third time in the state’s history such an event will be taking place-the others being 1996 and 2000.

The date marks, however, a somewhat more familiar though still unusual landmark in the annals of People’s Veto Referenda. For on the same day as those enrolled in the political parties will be staking out their preference for president, all voters will have a chance to weigh in on whether to reject a bill passed last year by the legislature. This was the law that was aimed at doing away with non-medical exemptions for immunizations required for entry into public schools, day care and medical facilities.

What makes the “People’s Veto” a bit more unusual than most other citizen referenda is that it seeks to arrest implementation of a law before it goes into effect. In this sense those against the law have already won some measure of victory. That’s because when they filed the necessary 63,000 signatures last summer to put the law out to a vote it stopped the law from going into effect until a public referendum could occur. Otherwise the measure would have already been on the books since mid-September.

Because the signatures to stop a law from being implemented have to be gathered in a mere 90-day window – the time between when the legislature adjourns and when most laws go into effect – the People’s Veto is one that’s not as frequently taken from the political tool box as the more typical citizen initiatives. Only 30 previous “veto” efforts have made it onto the ballot in the 111 years this option has been available in Maine. During the same time 64 initiatives – meaning petition drives aimed at introducing a new law or overruling one that’s already taken effect – have been put on the ballot.

Moreover, People’s Veto activists have been much less successful in putting their grievances before voters in the last several decades than they were when the option first became available. Nineteen were on the ballot from 1909 through 1941 while the upcoming vaccination law veto will be only the twelfth in nearly 79 years.

What then is the track record so far for the “veto” system in Maine? If recent history is any indication, voters have been fairly consistent in striking down laws served up to them on the “veto” plate. All five of those put forth in the last 11 years have been successful. They include, however, such a broad array of subjects that it’s difficult to discern a pattern that would give much guidance for predicting the upcoming vote.

The most recent laws overturned include the rejection of the so-called Beverage Tax in 2008, striking down a same sex marriage law in 2009 – a measure that three years later did win voter approval, however – turning thumbs down on a tax reform bill that would have cut income taxes but at the same time increased sales taxes in 2010, the vote to overturn a GOP law that would have banned same day voter registration in 2011 and then most recently the June 2018 successful veto of the legislature’s attempt to repeal ranked choice voting.

In keeping with this trend of “veto” measures that have such a wide span of subjects this year’s is the first in Maine on immunizations.

The most popular subject of the “vetoes” historically has been taxation measures, three of them alone from 1929 to 1941 that struck down gas tax increases. Four others threw out other new taxes.

Overall, of the 30 “veto” referenda so far since 1909, 18 have been successful and 12 have failed. However, if the seven tax vetoes are not included, the record is almost even, 11 successful and 12 unsuccessful. The unsuccessful efforts include one in 1920 to prevent women from voting in presidential elections and one five years later that attempted to forestall the implementation of standard time.

One thing all have in common is that such movements are inherently directed at repudiating the established political order. After all, there can’t be a “People’s Veto” unless the legislature and ordinarily also the governor has seen fit to get behind the law in the first place.

However, such votes, narrowly focused on a single issue, are not necessarily a measure of the personal popularity of a law’s public adherents. Take the case of the 1958 People’s Veto of a law that added a mere dollar to driver’s license fees – the first increase since 1912 – and 7 percent to truck registrations. Despite support from Governor Edmund Muskie, nearly 83 percent of those voting – 106,840 to 22,495 – overturned the law. That it was not a personal rebuke to Muskie, however, was borne out by the fact that just six months later Muskie would go on himself to win 61 percent of the vote in upsetting incumbent U.S. Senator Frederick Payne.

Similarly, Governor Angus King’s position for Gay Rights in a 1998 People’s Veto was rejected – as was his position on a Forest Practices Referendum – in the same year that voters later chose to keep him in office with a 59 percent mandate that still stands as the highest of any Blaine House aspirant of the last six decades.

Clouding the ability of pollsters to forecast the outcome of a People’s Veto is that there is usually no political party to which one can explicitly anchor the result. This year’s vote on immunization may have more partisan political overtones than others, however, in that democrats are perceived as being more likely to be against the “veto” than republicans.

Voters unaffiliated with either party, who in Maine make up the largest voting block, may hold the balance of power.

We shall soon find out.

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19 Comments

  1. Thank You Paul.
    Great Work as always.

    My view on the Referendum Process is that it never hurts to step back, take a deep breathe.
    Hopefully, Cooler Heads Prevail.

    The fact that the signatures are gathered indicates the proper amount of discussion may not have been done before hand….
    The law was rammed through and signed by one party.

    This is the price of partisan behavior.

    Thankfully, we in Maine have a process to BE HEARD.

    Hopefully, this process results in the best decision on the issue.
    That’s the intent.

    If it’s necessary to force a party to be fair,,,
    This is the Tool.

    Best of Luck out there.

  2. Gov. Mills and AG Aaron Frey have some explaining to do to the citizens of Maine.
    The only case of a state itself, charging a company with federal crimes, while forcing it’s citizens to purchase their products, and offering no exemptions to those whose concience won’t allow them to do business with criminals.

    On 5-10-19, Gov. Mills current AG, filed the anti-trust suit against Pfizer, along with 43 other states, in U.S. District Court in Connecticut. The anti-trust suit accuses Pfizer, of conspiring w/34 other pharmaceutical entities, such as Teva ( in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act ) in one of the most egregious and damaging price-fixing ( of generic drugs ) conspiracys in the history of the U.S.

    Both Pfizer and Teva are responsible parties in the OPIOD CRISIS, with Teva paying $646,000,000 in settlements.

    Some version of the word ‘ conspiracy’ occurs 285 times in the complaint. Pfizer and their alleged co-conspirators decided profits via fraud were a higher priority to them than the health of their customers. The doctors and the patients are the victims here.

    Two weeks later on 5-24-19, Gov. Mills ( formerly Maine’s AG) signed LD 798 ( passed by ONLY 1 bipartisan vote) to remove religious and concientious objections to mandated vaccines. Even though the state vaccination percentage rates are equal to or above all other states.

    Mainers can’t send their infants and children to be enrolled in any public education program under the control of the STATE unless they ENTRUST the life and health of their children to these co-conspirators and criminally convicted corrupt industries and purchase vaccine products from them. WHAT?

    Many Mainers choose not to do business with corporations that do not share their values, or in whom they do not trust, but vaccine mandates require that individuals do business with corrupt industries in order to secure a public education for their children.

    The pharmaceutical industries own clinical trials and scientific data was used against them at the public hearings. Speaker after speaker, opposing these MANDATES, mopped the floor with the white coated, Hollywood staged, doctors using Big Pharma’s own SCIENCE to prove UNVACCINATED PEOPLE ARE NO MORE DANGEROUS TO THE IMMUNE COMPROMISED THAN THE VACCINATED PERSON.

    There were 97,000 signatures collected for the veto to take place for a vote to scheduled in June, and and moved up to March. Many older, wiser and unindoctrinated folks are out in force with the truth.

    Vote Yes on 1 to regain contol of your right to choose domestic tranquility, which is explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution. The preamble. Right up in the front there, after ” We the People.”

  3. I am with Olde Crone. Vote Yes on 1 as we miss the good old days when kids got permanently damaged due to these preventable diseases.

    Lets kill the CMP corridor as any green energy sources are bad. We need smog and thick air.

    I miss the days when Doctor’s endorsed cigarettes, seat belts were for losers and the houses all had lead based paint.

    Too bad the Citizen veto could not stop women voting.

    Lest allow beating of children as we need to make it easier for the sadistic jerks who abused children because “:they were victims” themselves

    Why have science lessons in school? We all know it is fake and think of how much money we could save.
    Why teach math? We all know the future is working back in dangerous mills that make that delightful thick air.
    I think we can all agree, dinosaurs were not real and we never went to the moon.
    Why have a school budget? Lets just eliminate public education. Horace Mann was such a Communist.

    Maine, the way life used to be when life expectancy was low, infant mortality was high and literacy was low.

    I’m voting for Calvin Coolidge tomorrow right before I vote Yes on 1.

    I miss Polio. Got Smallpox anyone?

  4. Good old days your sarcasm is as obvious as it is ignorant. When our government has reached the point of being run by a dictator that forces vaccines on to you we should be very weary of anything that establishment does. Kind of like a dictator in recent history that forced people to buy healthcare unconstitutionally. Maybe people should start voting for better candidates.

  5. I heard Africa is really tranquil these days. They don’t vaccinate and just get to relax and lay around in their Ebola all day.

  6. I was a boy in the late 40s and early 50s. I remember a friend who got polio and had to wear braces on his legs and walk with crutches, at a time before ALL of the kids in school got the vaccine for free At school. I am a Firm NO voter.

  7. The good old days…..Well said. I agree completely! If anyone takes the time to think about it, all MEDICAL reasons are still in this! If you have a valid medical issue that prevents you from getting a shot, you are exempt . It is only personal and religious reasons that are not.
    If you choose to NOT have your child immunized for any reason ( except medical) and there is a child in that school that cannot be immunized for medical reasons, your child gets chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, polio ..brings those germs to school because you don’t know that’s what it is yet….and the child who CANNOT get shots contracts the disease from your child and dies…how will you feel then? Hundreds of doctors and scientists have proven that these shots do not cause illness. Does it happen? Yes, but the numbers are very small, in comparison to how many are vaccinated, and have been for decades.
    Those who vote yes have a choice with their child, homeschool, private school, charter school..or vaccinate.
    I will be voting NO on #1

  8. I will be voting Yes on 1 – Though I understand the need to vaccinate (we do not want to go through another epidemic such as smallpox or polio) I also see the need to not be controlled by our government – we have come so far and to lose our right to choose would be devastating – it is what separates us from other countries. Please consider all aspects before voting.

  9. I’ll say it again for the people sitting in the back: NO ONE IS/WOULD BE MANDATED TO BE VACCINATED. The law that was passed eliminates exemptions for philosophical reasons. Legitimate medical exemptions exist (if you have cancer, are too young, etc.). If you choose not to vaccinate you would not be allowed to send your kids to public school or daycare and risk getting other kids sick. You still have the choice to send them to private school, homeschool them, etc. Please stop with the rhetoric and use science to make your decision. The government is not under any circumstance going to show up at your house and pin you down while injecting a vaccine. Fear mongering has no place in democracy.

  10. “The government must educate my children using taxpayer funds, but impose no conditions aimed at ensuring the safety of my child and the children of others. If I choose to ignore the scientific consensus and take actions that may endanger my child or others, that is my right and it must have no impact on my child’s ability to participate in taxpayer-funded public education.”

  11. Again, the ‘scientific consensus’ of the medical industrial complex was repeatedly and successfully used against the pro-ponents of these mandates to PROVE. that an UNVACCINATED PERSON IS NO MORE DANGEROUS TO AN IMMUNE COMPROMISED PERSON THAN AN UNVACCINATED PERSON.

    The rise in childhood illness and disease is directly equal to the rise in the number of vaccinations pushed by the CDC.

    The public hearings are consumers opportunity to become informed of the facts and avoid misinformation from the industry ‘s ‘marketing’ media blitz.

    Do you really put your trust in the corrupt federal criminals who are responsible for the OPIOID CRISIS and the price fixing schemes of GENERIC DRUGS?

    Ask yourself why Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey files an anti-trust suit in US District Court 5-10-19 charging Pfizer and their co-conspirators for federal crimes and two weeks later Gov. Mills signs into law a bill that encourages Maine’s citizens to continue to purchase their products.

    Ask yourself why Maine has the highest rate per capita of babies born addicted, babies born to obese mothers, and babies born to diabetic mothers.

    This is no accident of nature, my fellow citizens, any more than the rate of many of these debilitating childhood ‘mental illnesses’ , sicknesses and illnesses.

    What you call science is simply marketing. The rich get richer and the poor become fearful.

  12. Yes the government pays for kids to be educated, we are the government. So many people seem to forget they are just public servants, Elected to do a job and when they turn into a dictator they need to be either voted out or held accountable at the ballot box.
    With that said yes these parents could pay taxes to educate the vaxed kids and pay to home school, charter, etc. etc. Those parents aren’t being served by the government at that point so can they take the taxes they pay to these public schools both locally and fed, state levels and use that money to privately educate ? While we are at it anyone who doesn’t want to get vaccinated should be able to not pay for that and even the tax payers who don’t have kids or physically can’t have kids.
    Let’s keep the citizenry out from under a dictator and keep Us all free to enjoy life.

  13. My son was born 3 months early and the hospital tried to give him all the vaccinations as if he was strong enough to handle that innudation of foreign matter. Being born at 29 weeks, with lungs just barely developed enough for him to survive, they tried to tell me he Needed these vaccines. Look and think before selfish reaction.
    If we do not choose to question the political and monetary interests behind MANDATES in our country crowing about freedom, please question the moral integrity of forcing parents and their babies to submit to formalities that arent proven to actually change anything. Think of the big picture here. our money doesnt keep us safe. Security is an illusion!
    Choose to see HUMANITY in each person we are in contact with: by definition that humanity presents itself uniquely in each and every DNA.
    Mothers and fathers, lovers of children: unite under a banner of solidarity.
    “Don’t tread on me”

  14. Taxed enough, in response to your question, whoever pays her more. Just ask CMP.

  15. Now that big pharma and the sheeple got their way. When will the refugees/asylum seekers that the governor invited here get li ed up to be vaccinated ? They haven’t been yet so they must be soon right ?

  16. As soon as the vote was in Gov. mills was quick to say it went the way she wanted.Maybe she had picked a side before but I never saw it in print.

  17. What about our Unvaccinated Neighbors in New Hampshire?
    Why is it safe for us to be around them???

    There light just went on,,,
    This whole vaccinne scam is ploy to keep liquor sales in a Maine,,right!!
    BRILLIANT!!

    We should just Build A Wall to keep us all safe!!
    I know who Janet can call for advice about that..LOL.

    This vaccine scam will come back to haunt this Governor.
    Thanks for the Wake Up..

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