Maine 1938 ballot measures

1939 →

← 1937

Four statewide ballot measures were on the September 12, 1938 ballot in Maine.

• One of the measures was a legislatively referred constitutional amendment.
• The measure was approved.
• The other three measures were locally applied measures.

On the ballot

September 12

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Proposed Amendment to the Constitution	Suffrage	Lengthens time required to establish residency for voting purposes	a

Local control of liquor sales

In 1935, the State Legislature put into the Public Laws for that year Chapter 157, which set out a system for local option voting on the sale of liquor. The chapter stated that the sale of liquor was lawful in any city or town in the state that had voted to repeal the 26th amendment to the constitution in 1934 until January 1, 1937. The aldermen of cities, the selectmen of towns and the assessors of plantations were empowered by this chapter to put to a vote on the following three questions at the regular biennial meetings for the election of senators and representatives:

• Shall state stores for the sale of liquor be operated by permission of the state liquor commission in this city or town?
• Shall licenses be granted in this city or town under regulation of the state liquor commission for the sale therein of wine and spirits to be consumed on the premises?
• Shall licenses be granted in this city or town for the sale therein of malt liquor?

These outcomes of these votes applied only to the city, town or plantation in question--not to the whole state. The were, however, Questions No. 1 through 3 on this statewide ballot. The law was amended by an act of the legislature in 1939 to add a fourth ballot question which read as follows:

• Shall licenses be granted in this city or town for the sale therein of malt liquor (beer, ale and other malt beverages) not to be consumed on the premises?

These questions continued to appear on biennial statewide ballots with statewide referendum, initiatives and amendments until the law establishing them was amended in 1941. The amendment added that, "Upon this ballot no other referendum question or questions shall be printed."

See also

• 1938 ballot measures
• List of Maine ballot measures
• History of Initiative & Referendum in Maine

External links

• Lewiston Daily Sun, "Referendum Questions to be Voted Upon September 12, 1938," September 7, 1938
• Main State Law and Legislative Reference Library, Proposed Constitutional Amendments 1820-
• National Conference of State Legislatures, State Ballot Measures Database