The Maine Secretary of State revealed Monday the final design for the proposed state flag upon which voters will be asked to decide in November.
The selected design was one of more than four hundred submissions sent into the Secretary of State’s office as part of a contest hosted earlier this summer.
State lawmakers passed a bill last year that — pending voter approval this November — will replaces Maine’s current flag with a version of that which was used from 1901 to 1909.
The legislation eventually became law without the signature of Gov. Janet Mills (D) in January of this year.
The official description of this design — as written in this bill — reads: “buff, charged with the emblem of the State, a pine tree proper, in the center, and the North Star, a mullet of 5 points, in blue in the upper corner; the star to be equidistant from the hoist and the upper border of the flag, the distance from the 2 borders to the center of the star being equal to about 1/4 of the hoist, this distance and the size of the star being proportionate to the size of the flag.”
Not included in the legislation, however, was a specific visual of how these guidelines would look in practice on a state flag.
During an event held Monday morning, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced Adam Lemire of Gardiner as the winner of this summer’s contest that was held to find an official design.
Unlike the flag design that has been seen on souvenirs and other merchandise in recent years, the winning design features a more realistic pine tree at its center with sixteen branches, representative of Maine’s sixteen counties.
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An image of the final flag design will not be included on the ballot alongside Question 5 this November.
