It appears that the public debate over legal marijuana in Maine won’t be settled by last week’s election alone. Yesterday afternoon Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities, a group which lobbied against the initiative to legalize recreational cannabis in the state, filed a petition requesting a recount on the referendum formally titled Question 1. Unofficial results from the Office of Maine’s Secretary of State indicate the cannabis legalization measure earned 381,622 votes in favor over 377,619 opposing; a difference of only 4,073 votes, and a margin of less than one percent.

According to state rules, if the margin of difference in an election is less than 1.5 percentage points, then the state itself must foot the bill for a recount, and in this case it won’t be cheap. Given that Question 1 was a statewide ballot measure on which 757,000 votes were cast, —mostly for the use of state troopers to travel to each of Maine’s 503 municipalities to retrieve sealed ballot boxes for delivery to the Secretary of State, who then recounts them manually. His office estimated it could take four weeks to complete. Maine’s Secretary of State Matt Dunlap estimated a cost of $500,000 —mostly for the use of state troopers to travel to each of Maine’s 503 municipalities to retrieve sealed ballot boxes for delivery to the Secretary of State, who then recounts them manually. His office estimated it could take four weeks to complete.

Hillary Lister of Maine Matters Votes No, another group opposing legalization, , “I think it’s due diligence because it was such a tight margin. Any initiative that is this close should have a recount.” David Boyer, campaign manager for Yes on 1, said of the recount , “I think it’s due diligence because it was such a tight margin. Any initiative that is this close should have a recount.” David Boyer, campaign manager for Yes on 1, sharply retorts that since the margin of affirmative votes is currently in the thousands , a recount is a pointless delay: “The people of Maine have spoken and they have voted ‘yes’ to make marijuana legal, as have millions of other Americans across the country. Just as keeping marijuana illegal has been a waste of taxpayer dollars, we think this recount will be a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.”