Showing popular support for a new law that strengthens the state’s vaccination requirements, Maine voters on Tuesday decisively rejected a citizen-initiated ballot measure to repeal the new rules.
The Bangor Daily News was the first media outlet to call the race, as early returns from across the state showed strong opposition to the anti-vaccination measure. In initial returns, 73 percent of voters in Bangor rejected the law and 85 percent of voters in results reported from Portland so far did the same.
As of 10pm, with 60% of statewide results in, the pro-vaccine side had garnered just under 29% of the vote statewide, which Sun Journal political reporter Steve Collins noted is the most lopsided loss for a people’s veto initiative since 1957.
Question 1 read: “Do you want to reject the new law that removes religious and philosophical exemptions to requiring immunization against certain communicable diseases for students to attend schools and colleges and for employees of nursery schools and health care facilities?”
The ballot question was launched in response to a law passed last legislative session that eliminated a loophole that allowed families to forgo vaccinations for non-medical reasons. At five percent, Maine has the seventh highest rate of non-medical opt outs in the nation, more than double the national average of two percent. As a result, in recent years, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable pertussis, or ‘whooping cough,’ and measles have become widespread in the state.
For Sarah Gay, who supported a No vote and wrote about her concern for what decreased vaccination rates could mean for medically-vulnerable son in the week before the vote, the issue was one of life or death.
“Another parent’s choice to believe in fear over facts may kill my child, and while he has survived dying three times on the operating table, I am not willing to risk his life at the school cafeteria table.”
The measure was rejected despite a long and hard-fought effort in favor of preserving the exemptions by anti-vaccine activists, also backed by the Maine Republican Party and the Christian Civic League. Yes on 1 campaign signs framed the question as a rejection of “Big Pharma,” which public health experts panned as an effort to confuse voters.
The referendum was opposed by organizations representing Maine doctors, nurses, hospitals and other health care advocates.
The ballot initiative was the first of its kind in the United States and was being watched closely across the country as a signal of public opinion on what has become an increasingly contentious issue.
“Great win for children! Congratulations to everyone who works so hard, and thank you to the voters of Maine for putting children first,” wrote Mark Del Monte, head of the American Academy of Pediatrics, following the vote.
“”In rejecting Question One, Maine voters resoundingly affirmed that we must not surrender to potentially fatal vaccine-preventable illnesses,” said Sam Zager, a family physician in Portland. “One of the great functions of representative government is to balance the public good with individual liberty. On the issue of vaccines, Mainers clearly said that the public’s overwhelming interest is in safeguarding our schools and other public places from demons such as polio, diphtheria, measles, and meningitis.”
Maine lawmakers, mostly Democrats, who helped to pass the legislation along predominately party line votes last year, also applauded the results.
“As a mother, grandmother, retired family physician and state legislator, my top priority has always been the health and safety of Maine children and families. I also believe wholeheartedly in respecting the will of Maine voters and the citizen initiative process,” said Sen. Linda Sanborn, a co-sponsor of the pro-vaccine bill in a statement after the referendum results were announced. “The people’s veto is an important tool for our democracy, and I’m pleased both with the outcome of this vote and what it means for Maine people.”
Governor Janet Mills, who came out against voting ‘yes’ on Question 1, described the outcome as allowing the ” health and wellbeing of Maine children” to prevail.
“This law leaves medical exemptions up to medical professionals and ensures that Maine children are better protected from the spread of dangerous communicable diseases,” she said in an official statement. “It is the right thing to do for the health and safety of our kids.”
Photo: A ‘No on 1’ sign placed on Brackett Street in Portland. | Cara DeRose
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