2016 Maine Question 4

Question 4: Citizen Initiative
An Act to Raise the Minimum Wage
Results
Choice
Votes %
Yes 420,892 55.50%
No 337,486 44.50%
Valid votes 758,378 98.27%
Invalid or blank votes 13,330 1.73%
Total votes 771,708 100.00%

Maine Question 4, formally An Act to Raise the Minimum Wage,[1] is a citizen-initiated referendum question that appeared on the Maine November 8, 2016 statewide ballot. It sought to increase Maine's minimum wage from $7.50 per hour to $12 an hour by 2020, as well as increasing the minimum wage for tipped employees gradually to the same level by 2024. It would also index increases after 2024 to inflation. As the Maine Legislature and Governor Paul LePage declined to enact the proposal as written, it appeared on the ballot along with elections for President of the United States, Maine's two U.S. House seats, the Legislature, other statewide ballot questions, and various local elections. Efforts to place a competing, more moderate proposal alongside the citizen-initiated bill were unsuccessful.

The proposal was enacted by voters, with 55% in favor. The changes to the tip credit were later reversed by the Legislature.

  1. ^ "Maine Citizen's Guide to the Referendum Election" (PDF). State of Maine Office of the Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2016-10-15.