It may be the last stand for smokers.

American Legion posts, VFW halls, Elks lodges and other private clubs have been somewhat exempt thus far from a state law banning smoking in public workplaces such as bars, stores and offices. If no club employee objected to the smoking, then under the law patrons have been allowed to light up in the private facilities – until now.

A bill signed by the governor on June 8 now requires clubs to not only get the approval of all its employees, but also a majority of its members, who must vote in a secret ballot to allow cigarettes.

The new law applies to about 150 clubs across the state and the membership votes must be taken by Sept. 17. Clubs without employees are free to make their own rules on smoking.

Donald Simoneau of Livermore Falls, the first vice-commander for Maine’s American Legion posts and the group’s legislative chairman, said the measure represented a hard-fought compromise.

“We fought like heck just to give us an opportunity to allow memberships to vote,” he said Monday. “It was a real tough compromise.”

A bill that would have banned smoking in all workplaces, including private clubs, came before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee last session. It eventually was amended with the vote provision for private clubs.

But Simoneau and others are still fuming over a part of the amendment that requires a majority of all members, not just those voting, approve smoking. That means, for instance, if a VFW has 600 members on paper, 301 must vote in favor of allowing smoking.

Simoneau said one American Legion post he knows of – which he would not name – has about 1,000 members, 200 of whom live out of state. Getting ballots to those members and convincing the members to vote may be tough, he said.

“We worked hard, but now I’m not sure what we really have,” Simoneau said.

Simoneau said he and others feel requiring the threshold to be the majority of the full membership is unfair.

At least one post, the Belfast American Legion, has sent notices to its members stating that a failure to vote is the same as a vote to ban smoking.

John Archard, tobacco enforcement coordinator for the Attorney General’s Office, said Monday the law addresses veterans service organizations and private clubs, both of which are defined in state law. The VFW halls, Legion posts and Elks lodges must hold a vote of their membership at least once every three years, he said, and the ballots must be on file for inspection by the state Health and Human Services Department.

Archard said he understood the argument that a tally of those members who took the time to vote would be more fair, especially since clubs often have people listed as members who have not set foot in the club for years. But he disagreed that the majority voting requirement was an unintended consequence of the law, and said he checked with the state reviser’s office, where the legislation was written, before issuing his interpretation.