It's election day, which means shenanigans, dirty tricks and disinformation all over the country, Maine included. In that state, opponents of open elections, e.g. Republicans, are taking voter suppression scare tactics to bizarre lengths, running a print ad "that singles out a gay rights' group's involvement in the effort to retain Election Day registration."
Here's the ad.
The real point of Question 1, of course, is to restore the practice of same-day voter registration to the state, a process Maine citizens have enjoyed for four decades. Maine Republicans want the public to believe, however, that restoring this law to the state somehow puts it on the slippery slope to gay marriage.
GOP Chairman Charlie Webster said the ad, which was circulated by more than 25 community newspapers, was designed to "educate" the public about EqualityMaine, one of the advocacy groups involved in the coalition that wants to retain the state's 38-year-old EDR law. However, members of the coalition say the ad is designed to mobilize opponents of same-sex marriage and marks yet another example of Webster and EDR opponents' attempts to distract voters from the real issue of Question 1. [...]
Webster said the ad isn't "gay-bashing." However, he acknowledged several Republican lawmakers had contacted him to complain about the ad and that it cast the party in negative light.
It's good to know not all Maine Republican lawmakers are bigots. The ad is running in small, weekly newspapers in rural areas, micro-targeted toward the social conservatives in the party's base in an effort to increase their turnout. Last week, polling showed the issue very close, with a slight edge for the Yes campaign.