Mainers reject proposal to resurrect the state's original flag

PORTLAND, Maine — Mainers were smitten by the state's original flag during the 2020 bicentennial. But the retro flag's popularity wasn't enough to convince voters to make it the state's official flag.

Residents voted Tuesday to retain the existing flag — blue with the state seal — instead of adopting a flag that tracks closely with the state’s original flag — a simple pine tree and blue North Star.

Various designs based on the flag used from 1901 to 1909 gained popularity during the state’s bicentennial in 2020, appearing on hats, sweatshirts and soon license plates, making it an unofficial flag of sorts.

That played a role in lawmakers’ approval of a bill to let Mainers vote on replacing the current flag. The state’s official seal on the current flag features a lumberjack, a sailor and the state’s motto, “Dirigo,” Latin for “I lead.”

Last year, Minnesota adopted a new flag after critics decried the state’s 1858 flag that featured a Native American riding off into the sunset while a white settler plows his field with his rifle leaning on a nearby stump.

There was no such controversy in Maine. The only criticism of Maine’s current flag was that it's boring, since official state seals on blue backgrounds are featured in more than a dozen other states’ flags.

Sagadahoc County sheriff's race

Also in Maine, Sagadahoc County residents have voted to retain their current sheriff over a challenger who was accused of failing to take actions to disarm an Army reservist responsible for killing 18 people in the state’s deadliest mass shooting.

Sheriff Joel Merry won reelection Tuesday for a fifth term with over Patrol Sgt. Aaron Skolfield.

Both law enforcement officers faced tough questions about the department’s interactions with Army reservist Robert Card, and both said they didn’t want their careers to be defined by events before the shooting last year. Skolfield said in a social media post Wednesday that it is “difficult to unseat an incumbent.”