Same-sex marriage gains ballot victories

November 07, 2012

Voters in Maine and Maryland have approved initiatives legalizing same-sex marriage, and Minnesota voters have rejected a marriage amendment to the state constitution.

With 75% of the vote counted in Maine, voters approved same-sex marriage by a 53%-47% margin, just three years after the state’s voters, by the same margin, had repealed a law legalizing same-sex marriage.

With 98% of the vote counted in Maryland, voters approved same-sex marriage by a 52%-48% margin.

With 98% of the vote counted in Minnesota, voters, by a 52%-48% margin, rejected an amendment to the state constitution that would have defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

With 51% of the vote counted in the State of Washington, a ballot initiative that would legalize same-sex marriage was leading by a 52%-48% margin.

The ballot victories for same-sex marriage follow 32 state referenda, dating back to 1998, in which voters sided with the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Most recently, North Carolina voters in May, by a 61%-39% margin, approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

 

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Further information:

• Ballot measures (CNN)
• Gay marriage, marijuana backed in historic votes (AP)