Does equality under the law apply to all three options on the Portland Homeless Shelter ballot?

Is the contest over or is it just beginning? It's not just about the homeless shelter anymore!

Michal Matlon / Unsplash

According to the headline in NewsCenter Maine

Path towards 200-bed Homeless Services Center in Portland clears hurdles following referendum

The subtitle says “The ballot measure looking to reduce capacity of emergency shelters in the city to 50 beds failed, receiving 31% of the vote”

Point made!

Shelters limited to fifty beds in a room failed so that the project allowing 200 beds in a room can move ahead!

And therein lay the crux of the matter.

One might think from the headline that it was a two option- or a yes or no vote- such as a simple question: " Do you want to limit the number of beds per room to fifty?"

Yes or No?

But that was not the case, as reported later in the story:

Unofficial election results for the City of Portland show option A received 31%, option B received roughly 28% of the vote, and option C received 41% of the vote. Both options A and B would have required more than 50% of the vote to be enacted.

Given the principle of equal justice under the law…