AUGUSTA – If the Passamaquoddy Tribe’s petition signatures for a Washington County racino are validated by the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, Democratic leaders conceded Tuesday it was possible the Legislature might simply enact the bill and schedule a statewide vote for June.

In other tribal racino developments Tuesday, the Maine Senate chose not to reconsider a negative vote that would have launched alternative legislation for the racino. The House approved the proposal last month and the order that would have initiated the process for a new racino bill is expected to die between the two legislative bodies today.

Senate Republican leader Paul Davis of Sangerville had voted with the majority in the Senate last Thursday when the order was defeated by a single vote. He requested the bill be held after discussions with Washington County legislators. He said Tuesday the tribe’s citizen initiative had rendered the need for the order moot.

“I offered to give [Washington County legislators] another vote if they wanted it and they decided to let it go and that’s what we did,” Davis said.

Members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe delivered 61,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office Monday in an effort to place the question of a Washington County racino and commercial racetrack before the voters in November. State election officials now have until March 1 to determine whether at least 50,519 of the signatures were legally collected and signed by legitimate voters in order to place the question on the ballot.

House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick, said Tuesday past history suggests that when organizers submit 61,000 signatures, the number will probably give the tribe what it needs to go on the ballot. Observing that Mainers “tire” of referendums, Richardson said the Legislature has the option of enacting the tribe’s citizen initiative and move the vote up from November to the June primary election.

“If we put it in June, we give the answer to Washington County and to the tribes and don’t become involved in a long-term protracted debate or discussion about racinos,” Richardson said. “I think most people know where they stand on the issue. So there’s not a lot of education that has to occur.”

Richardson said the timing of the election would not affect the outcome “one bit” and that the only real factor would be the amount of money that would be saved by moving the question to June instead of November.

“I’m trying to avoid, for Maine people, the constant barrage of telephone calls and invasion onto the television screens of a number of TV ads one way or another,” he said. “If we can put this before the voters in June, as opposed to November, I think Maine people will appreciate it.”

The scenario outlined by Richardson was not quite as easy to embrace for Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport. While there has been decisively strong support in the House for the tribal racino, the issue has closely divided the Senate overall. Senate Democrats oppose the plan in larger numbers than their Republican counterparts and opposition to gambling in general runs high.

Still, Edmonds offered some tacit support for a June vote on the proposal.

“All I’m going to say is that we all breathe a sigh of relief when the election campaigns are over,” she said. “To the extent that if it makes it through the Legislature and we can put it forward in June, it will make the whole state breathe a sigh of relief.”

Passamaquoddy Tribal Rep. Fred Moore said the vote in the Senate pretty much closed the door on providing a legislative alternative to the tribe’s plans for a racino and that the citizen’s initiative was going to move forward. Timing of the vote, he said, would not affect what he perceived to be a foregone conclusion.

“We’ll win in any election, although we might stand a better chance in November, because there would be more people out,” he said. “But support among average voters is going to run around 60 percent so it doesn’t matter what month it happens.”