In South Portland, voters adopted the school budget today, 2,458 yes to 1,226 no.
In Portland, voters approved the school budget by a vote of 1,249 yes to 397 no.
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9:55 P.M.
Democrat Cynthia Dill handily won the state Senate District 7 race, beating Republican Louis Maietta 2-to-1.
She got a total of 5,056 votes in the three communities represented, to Maietta’s 2,405 votes.
Voters approved school budgets in Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough today. Votes were still being tallied in Portland and South Portland at this hour.
In Cape Elizabeth, voters passed a $21.1 million school budget 1,837 votes to 686 votes. The budget cuts 1.5 teaching positions in the elementary school, and limits pay increases this year to 0.5 percent. With the municipal budget approved last month, property taxes will rise 2.4 percent.
In Scarborough, voters approved the $35.5 million school budget 856-753. The combined town and school budgets will raise taxes 2.69 percent.
Results from Portland and South Portland school budget votes weren’t available.
9:11 P.M.
Democrat Cynthia Dill has won Scarborough as well as Cape Elizabeth in the state Senate District 7 race. In Scarborough, Dill got 451 votes to Republican Louis Maietta’s 301 votes.
Results from South Portland were not available.
9:03 P.M.
The first results in the state Senate District 7 special election are in.
In Cape Elizabeth, Democrat Cynthia Dill got 1,765 votes to Republican Louis Maietta’s 833 votes.
Results from South Portland and Scarborough were not yet available this evening.
NOON
Three hours after the polls opened in South Portland this morning, Assistant City Clerk Karen Morrill was already printing more ballots.
The 1,100 ballots at the Community Center weren’t running low yet, Morrill said, but City Clerk Susan Mooney expected to run out before the polls close at 8 p.m.
“It’s nice and steady,” Morrill said about the turnout. “I think it’s going to be more than we assumed.”
Voters in South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and the eastern portion of Scarborough today will choose between Democrat Cynthia Dill and Republican Louis Maietta in the state Senate District 7 special election.
The election heated up in recent days, with Democrats attacking Maietta’s personal finances and Republicans attacking Dill as part of the liberal establishment responsible for high taxes and job losses.
Residents of those three towns and Portland are also voting today on whether to approve school budgets.
The $89.5 million Portland school budget was approved by the City Council on May 2. The council is expected to vote later this month on the $201 million municipal budget. Together, the budgets would raise taxes by 2 percent.
Portland City Clerk Kathy Jones said she hasn’t gotten any feedback from the wardens stationed at the city’s several polling places. She said her office processed 80 absentee ballots this morning.
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