Patrick and I had been wondering where the Yes votes accumulated for Maine bond issue 1 – which allows Oxford County to build its new casino. The vote was extremely close – 282,463 (50.5%) for and 276,845 against (49.5%). In all of my research, I couldn’t Google a map that showed the county by county breakdown so I created one for dedicated Moogaz readers.
The northwestern rural interior clearly came out supporting the measure the strongest: Oxford, Somerset and Franklin counties all had stronger than 56% support.
Coming out strongly against the measure were the Downeast counties with Washington County leading the way; only 30% of voters supported the measure. No doubt this was payback for the Maine state legislature voting against a similar casino measure for Washington County earlier this year.
Along the I-95 corridor, Kennebec County (Augusta, Waterville) stands out in that they were an urban area strongly supportive of the measure. York, Cumberland were not too far behind. Of the I-95 urban centers, only Bangor (Penobscot County) voted strongly against. This was no doubt because of their own Casino interests.
| Yes | No | |||
| Oxford | 16150 | 62% | 9703 | 38% |
| Kennebec | 30258 | 58% | 22164 | 42% |
| Somerset | 11342 | 57% | 8390 | 43% |
| Franklin | 7401 | 56% | 5925 | 44% |
| Androscoggin | 22441 | 54% | 19144 | 46% |
| York | 42563 | 53% | 37925 | 47% |
| Cumberland | 65500 | 52% | 61200 | 48% |
| Sagadahoc | 8276 | 51% | 7806 | 49% |
| Aroostook | 13028 | 49% | 13301 | 51% |
| Piscataquis | 3678 | 49% | 3816 | 51% |
| Lincoln | 8167 | 48% | 8772 | 52% |
| Waldo | 7853 | 45% | 9490 | 55% |
| Knox | 7581 | 43% | 10098 | 57% |
| Penobscot | 25095 | 42% | 34396 | 58% |
| Hancock | 9376 | 37% | 15823 | 63% |
| Washington | 3754 | 30% | 8892 | 70% |
Comparing a very similar 2008 Oxford County initiative which was voted down 54-46, the Downeast support decrease is dramatic. Cumberland and York Counties clearly were swayed by the jobs argument though; their support increased 8% and 10% respectively from 2008 to 2010. The real game changers though were Kennebec and Androscoggin Counties, where 18 and 21% more voters voted Yes this time around. Harder hit by the Recession than the urban centers to the South or the tourist towns to the East, these mill towns clearly sympathized with the Northern Counties and the jobs argument.
| 2008 | 2010 | Change | |
| Washington | 59% | 30% | -29% |
| Hancock | 55% | 37% | -18% |
| Knox | 52% | 43% | -9% |
| Penobscot | 46% | 42% | -4% |
| Waldo | 48% | 45% | -3% |
| Lincoln | 47% | 48% | 1% |
| Aroostook | 47% | 49% | 3% |
| Cumberland | 44% | 52% | 8% |
| Piscataquis | 41% | 49% | 8% |
| Sagadahoc | 42% | 51% | 10% |
| York | 43% | 53% | 10% |
| Franklin | 39% | 56% | 16% |
| Kennebec | 39% | 58% | 18% |
| Somerset | 37% | 57% | 20% |
| Androscoggin | 33% | 54% | 21% |
| Oxford | 35% | 62% | 28% |
Well, plenty of numbers to think about until construction completes in a couple of years.
