Voters narrowly defeated a Passamaquoddy Tribe proposal to build a harness racetrack and slots facility in Washington County on Tuesday, according to unofficial vote tallies.

With 86 percent of precincts reporting, 51.7 percent of voters had rejected a Passamaquoddy bid to locate 1,500 slot machines and a horse-racing track in Calais just across the St. Croix River from Canada.

If the percentages hold, Tuesday’s defeat would be the second time in four years that Maine residents have denied Indian tribes the right to build a gambling facility – this despite voter approval in 2003 of a privately owned racino in Bangor.

Representatives for the Passamaquoddys could not be reached for comment on the apparent defeat. But with the tribe’s campaign steadily trailing at the polls, Lt. Gov. Joseph Socobasin said late Tuesday night that the Passamaquoddys would continue their fight if this year’s measure fails.

“We’ve been at this since 1993, and we’ll try again in one form or another,” Socobasin said. “I don’t know what form it will be, and it probably won’t be in the next year or two. … But one of our tribal traditions is survival, so we won’t give up.”

Opponents of the racino bid, meanwhile, were pleased with the preliminary results.

Dennis Bailey with the group CasinosNO!, which has led the fight against the racino ballot issue, said the election is just another indication that Mainers are suspicious of slots facilities.

“I think the handwriting is on the wall, and it’s been on the wall for some time now,” Bailey said. “But it’s a squeaker.”

The Passamaquoddys hoped to build a facility consisting of a racetrack, casino, high-stakes bingo parlor, a hotel and conference center on 700 acres in Calais overlooking the St. Croix River. The site is within view of a new international bridge connecting Calais to St. Stephen, New Brunswick. That proximity to Canada would be key to the gambling facility’s success, supporters said.

The casino would offer 1,500 slot machines, the same number permitted at the new Hollywood Slots facility now under construction in Bangor. Penn National Gaming Inc., the owner of Hollywood Slots, has operated a smaller casino in downtown Bangor for the past two years.

Voter support for the Passamaquoddys’ racino varied dramatically from region to region.

Not surprisingly, Washington County voters overwhelmingly rallied behind it, with nearly 70 percent casting their ballots in support. A majority of voters in Androscoggin, Kennebec, Piscataquis and Somerset counties also supported the tribe’s proposal, according to unofficial vote tallies by the Bangor Daily News.

Knox County voters, meanwhile, rejected the racino proposal 61 percent to 39 percent while 54 percent of Cumberland County voters cast ballots against the measure.

And while Penobscot County as a whole was evenly divided on the issue, voters in Bangor – home to Maine’s only racino – voted down the issue 54 percent to 46 percent.

Members of the Passamaquoddy Tribe had touted the racino – the popular term for a combination racetrack and casino – as a partial answer to the economic troubles that have gripped both the tribe and Washington County for years.

Washington County consistently has the highest unemployment rate, the lowest per capita income and the highest poverty rate in all of Maine. Economic conditions on the Passamaquoddys’ two reservations – at Pleasant Point and Indian Township – are often more dismal than in the rest of the county.

A University of Maine economic study estimated that the Washington County racino would generate about $13 million in profits annually.

Passamaquoddy leaders have predicted that profits from the racino would make a “profound difference” in the tribe’s ability to care for itself in the future, helping generate jobs for both members and non-Passamaquoddys alike.

But critics of the proposal, led by CasinosNO! have predicted that the facility would do little to help the state’s or the tribe’s economy while causing additional heartache.

Bailey with CasinosNO! has said that, contrary to tribal predictions, he believes the majority of racino users – and, therefore, money losers – would be Maine residents, not Canadians. Bailey also has pointed to an increase in the crime rate in Bangor as evidence that the facilities lead to more lawlessness, although Bangor officials say a number of factors likely contributed to the increase.

The Passamaquoddy leadership was forced to take the issue to the public after failing to get it through in Augusta. Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a measure that would have given the tribe the authority to create a racetrack and casino on its land.

But Gov. John Baldacci vetoed the bill, citing his long-standing opposition to the expansion of gambling in the state. Despite strong support for the measure in the Legislature, lawmakers failed to garner the two-thirds vote needed to override the gubernatorial veto.

Speaking at an event in Old Town earlier Tuesday, Baldacci said he would honor the public’s wishes.

“Whatever the people decide, I will fully execute their wishes,” he said.

He added that if the referendum were passed, he would organize an advisory group to ensure that the issue moves forward.

“However they make the decision, it’s up to them,” Baldacci said.

During the campaign, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and other racino supporters said past promises to lift Washington County from its chronic economic morass have failed. They said the racino complex and spinoff businesses would bring economic development at no cost to government.

The issue of fairness was an undercurrent to the campaign. Supporters asked why a Maine Indian tribe should be denied an opportunity to operate slot machines while approval already has been granted to an out-of-state business, Penn National, to run Hollywood Slots.

Another group has tried to repeal the existing law that authorizes Hollywood Slots in Bangor. CasinosNO! has not joined that fight to date. But Bailey said he agrees with the tribes that it is unfair to them to allow Penn National to have slots and not the tribes.

Bailey said he would gladly sit down with tribal leadership to work together to get rid of slots altogether in Maine.

This year’s ballot measure over slots was tame compared to the 2003 campaign to build a $650 million tribally owned casino in the southern Maine community of Sanford. Both sides combined to spend nearly $10 million on the campaign.

Voters that year defeated the measure 2-to-1.

BDN writer Aimee Dolloff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.