PORTLAND, Maine (CN) — Maine voters will decide on Election Day whether to replace the official state flag with a modern incarnation of the original flag flown from 1901 to 1909.
The Nov. 5 ballot question is simple enough: “Do you favor making the former state flag, replaced as the official flag of the State in 1909 and commonly known as the Pine Tree Flag, the official flag of the state?”
Yet in the months leading up to the election, the debate has strayed far from the flag’s design. It has touched upon so-called woke culture, the controversial Appeal to Heaven flag and whether adopting a new flag is a waste of money.
The current flag features the state seal — a complex design of a farmer, a seaman resting on an anchor, a pine tree, a moose and the word Dirigo, the state motto — on a dark blue background. Supporters of the change say it’s too cluttered, and difficult to distinguish from the flags of multiple other states.
David Martucci, a flag expert, or vexillologist, has been pushing for a new Maine flag for more than 30 years. He said the current flag with its multifaceted state seal, is “kind of a mess.” Plus, he said, more than 20 other state flags also use a state seal or coat of arms on a blue background.
The proposed flag features a green pine tree, a longstanding symbol of Maine, on a buff-colored background with a blue star in the upper left corner. This follows the basic principles of good flag design, Martucci said: It’s simple, it’s distinctive, it uses meaningful symbolism, it has no more than three colors, and it doesn’t have any writing or seals on it.
“It’s all around a great flag,” he said.
Opponents, however, view the change as unnecessary and say the current flag, which has been in place for 115 years, represents the state’s deep traditions.
Some argue that changing the flag will bring unnecessary costs to the state and anybody else who flies the banner. A fiscal statement attached to the referendum says those costs can be absorbed within existing budgets, assuming a gradual replacement as existing flags become worn and frayed.
Other critics have gone even further. State Representative Shelley Rudnicki, a Republican from the central Maine town of Fairfield, said the proposed flag is part of a left-wing strategy to change Maine’s history by removing two white men from the flag.
“It’s all woke movement as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “It’s all crazy crap. They want to get rid of our history for whatever reason.”
Putting Maine’s flag on the ballot
The latest push to change Maine’s flag was partly fueled by the popularity of a design introduced by a Portland-based flag company in 2017 featuring a version of the original state flag with a more stylized pine tree.
Nowadays, the design is found on flags, banners, shirts, hats and coffee mugs sold online and in gift shops across the state.
The Maine Legislature passed a bill in 2023 calling for a change in the state flag. An amendment to the final bill brought the question to voters in a referendum.
If the measure passes, the state will have a new state flag, but the state seal — which was adopted when Maine became a state in 1820 — will remain the same.
Former Democratic state Representative Sean Paulhus, who sponsored the legislation, said the referendum is really about restoring the original state flag. Paulhus first became interested in flag design when he was a city councilor in the coastal town of Bath and helped create an official flag for the city.
“One of the reasons for bringing the legislation was how much people have embraced that image to show off their pride of the state,” Paulhus said. “And it fits all the vexillological guidelines because that flag is more distinguishable from 20 other flags that are blue and have a seal and are similar from afar.”
To determine the final design of the proposed flag, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows held a contest that drew more than 400 submissions from 42 states and from abroad. A bipartisan panel selected the winning design, which has a five-pointed star and a realistic looking pine tree with roots and 16 branches, representing Maine’s 16 counties.
Some have pointed out that the design is similar to the Appeal to Heaven flag that generated national debate this year after it was photographed flying outside of a house owned by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The flag dates back to the Revolutionary War when it flew over George Washington’s ships, but recently has come to symbolize sympathies with the Christian nationalist movement and the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Representative Rudnicki, beyond her opinion that the state flag is being hijacked by liberal Democrats, argued that worldwide, national flags with stars are often affiliated with communist countries.
She also thinks the proposed flag is simply unappealing. “It’s an ugly flag,” she said. “It looks like a child drew it. It’s going to make us be a laughing stock.”
Referendum supporters counter that it’s ridiculous to claim the new flag is the result of any “woke movement.”
“There are some people who read political motives into everything that happens,” Martucci said. “And because the bill was introduced by a Democrat, it’s obviously a liberal Democratic woke plot to overthrow conservative government. It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
State flags, revisited
States don’t often change their official flags, but both Utah and Minnesota did so this year.
Utah switched from a flag with the state coat of arms on a blue background to a cleaner design with a beehive in the middle. Minnesota traded in a seal-on-a-blue-background flag for a simple design with an eight-point star.
The trend toward strong, simple, distinctive flags reflects findings from the North American Vexillological Association, an organization dedicated to the study of flags, which polled its members and the public on their opinions of state, provincial and other flag designs in the U.S. and Canada.
When states began adopting state flags in earnest in the late 19th century, placing state seals on a dark blue background was the accepted norm.
“Now we see a trend away from that toward more distinctive individualized flags that reflect states’ identities,” Bellows said. “If Maine chooses to return to the pine tree flag of 1901, they will be following Minnesota and Utah who are moving away from having a state seal on a blue background.”
Voters chose New Mexico, Texas, Alaska and South Carolina among the top state flags.
The so-called “seal-on-a-bedsheet” designs used by Maine and more than 20 others, on the other hand, were relegated to the bottom of the heap: Out of 72 flags that were voted upon, Maine ranked No. 60.
Now the question remains whether Maine voters will embrace a new symbol for the state’s future or hold onto an emblem of its past.
Martucci said he doesn’t know anybody who’s opposed to the new flag design. Rudnicki said her constituents are telling her “it’s ridiculous that we would change it.” A poll released last month by a research and marketing company showed 40% supporting the current flag, 40% favoring the proposed flag, and 20% undecided.
It’s important for voters to have the final say, said Bellows, the secretary of state.
“Our state flag is a symbol of who we are as a state and is intended to unite us,” she said. “Having voters decide whether they want to be represented by our original 1909 flag or our current flag is a question that is really matter of individual preference and choice. I think this is a fun conversation and a fun referendum.”