Mainers vote against new utilities proposal, approve a stop to foreign spending in referendums

Maine voters turned down an attempt to oust the state’s corporate-owned electric utilities among several ballot initiatives Tuesday, and approved one to stop foreign spending in referendums.

Voters also cast ballots about whether to restore language about honoring obligations to Native American tribes to printed versions of the state constitution. Polls closed at 8 p.m. on an Election Day that saw consistent participation despite a lack of statewide offices on the ballot.

The Maine Department of the Secretary of State saw “steady turnout at the locations we’ve visited, maybe even strong for an odd-year election,” said Emily Cook, a spokesperson for the office.

The state’s busy slate of referendums came a year before Maine will likely once again emerge as a battleground for a congressional seat and a presidential electoral vote in its more conservative 2nd Congressional District.

Maine voters rejected the proposed takeover of two investor-owned utilities that distribute 97% of electricity in the state.

Voters opted for the status quo over a referendum that would have marked the first time a state with existing private utilities discarded them all at the same time. The proposal called for dismantling Central Maine Power and Versant Power and creating a nonprofit utility called Pine Tree Power to govern the grid.

Supporters said there was little to lose because of the utilities’ poor performance. Critics said there’s no guarantee the nonprofit utility would perform any better, while the move could spark lawsuits and buying out the existing utilities could cost billions — as much as $13.5 billion.

The vote came amid intense criticism of Central Maine Power over its slow response to storm-related power outages, a botched billing system rollout and perceived roadblocks to connecting renewable power projects to the grid, among other things.

Mainers voted to stop foreign government spending in local referendums, closing a loophole in federal election law that a Canadian utility giant exploited to protect its ventures in the state.

The Canadian-government-owned Hydro Quebec spent millions in a failed attempt to stop a proposal to halt a cross-border hydropower transmission project in which the utility stood to earn $10 billion.

Federal election law prevents foreign governments and entities from spending money to influence candidate elections, yet there’s no such ban covering state referendums.

With the approval, Maine becomes the 10th state to ban foreign spending in state ballot initiatives, said Aaron McKean, legal counsel for the nonprofit, nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C.

Voters are deciding whether to restore long-removed language about Maine's obligations to Native American tribes to the printed versions of its constitution.

Maine inherited the treaties from Massachusetts when it became its own state more than 200 years ago. The language still applies, but it was removed from the printed constitution in the 19th century.

Members of Maine's Native American tribes and others have said the restoration of the language to the printed constitution would honor history and make clear the state's obligations to Indigenous groups. But Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has opposed the measure, fearing it could lead to lawsuits.

John Dieffenbacher-Krall, executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance, said restoring the language would increase "the likelihood current and future residents of this state do understand the obligations of the state of Maine to the Wabanaki Nations.”

Mainers approved a “right to repair” initiative designed to allow vehicle owners and independent repair shops access to on-board diagnostic systems in vehicles.

Massachusetts voters approved a right to repair proposal of their own in 2020. That proposal provided vehicle owners and independent repair shops with more access to mechanical data related to maintenance and repairs.

There were several other constitutional amendments. One would remove a requirement that referendum petition gatherers be Maine residents, a provision ruled unconstitutional.