ANNAPOLIS — With one day left before a historic presidential election, gambling opponents rallied Monday in Maryland to bust an effort to legalize slot machines, while supporters hoped Election Day would bring jackpots and badly needed revenue for the state.
With Barack Obama solid in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1, the constitutional amendment on slot machines is a top statewide political question mark. Approval would mark the beginning of a new chapter after years of deadlock in a grueling and contentious debate on gambling expansion.
Voters also will decide whether they want Maryland to join more than 30 states with early voting.
Turnout is expected to be high, about 85 percent overall and as high as 90 percent in some parts of the state, state elections officials said. The state has boosted the number of voting machines to accommodate the crowds. In 2006, the state used about 16,000. This election, about 19,000 machines will be used.
“We’re ready to go,” Linda Lamone, administrator of the Maryland State Board of Elections, said Monday.
The National Weather Service called for mostly light rain in the Baltimore and Washington areas, with chances of rain lower in western Maryland. On the Eastern Shore, forecasts called for a cloudy morning with some sun in the afternoon and a chance of rain later in the day.
In addition to preparing for voters Tuesday, local elections officials across the state worked to process absentee ballots. As of Sunday, 132,539 Democratic voters had applied for absentee ballots, compared with 61,498 requested by Republicans.
State elections officials emphasized the importance of voters casting their ballots in correct precincts, because of rules tightened after the state’s highest court struck down a previous early voting law as unconstitutional.
The slots question, which has spanned Democratic and Republican administrations in Maryland, has consumed huge amounts of energy in state government over the years, prompting Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley to punt the volatile issue out of the Statehouse and to the voters.
If residents approve, up to 15,000 slot machines would be allowed in five locations, including two horse racing tracks in Laurel and near Ocean City.
Supporters say the hundreds of millions of dollars the state stands to gain are crucial amid the nation’s financial crisis and to keep the state’s horse racing industry competitive. O’Malley, who campaigned Monday in Pennsylvania for Obama, successfully pushed last year to put the matter on the ballot to address a budget shortfall that has since been aggravated by the nation’s financial crisis.
A pro-slots group called For Maryland, For Our Future planned to spread supporters across the state on Election Day to hold signs emphasizing that about half of the proceeds would be set aside for education, spokesman Steve Kearney said.
The group, which has held a huge fundraising advantage over opponents due largely to donations from gambling interests, ran television and radio advertisements in the Baltimore and Washington areas.
Opponents, meanwhile, have criticized state leaders for a plan they said would subsidize gambling companies at the expense of the poor.
“Slots are bad financial policy and will do nothing to solve our structural deficits,” Comptroller Peter Franchot said at a rally Monday at New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore.
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