Election Day Has "Dry" Status on Ballots

While this year's Election Day isn't anywhere near as frenzied in the news media as last year, there are at least two alcohol-related questions on ballots around the country.

The small towns of Friendship, Maine, and Winona, Texas, will vote Tuesday on whether to allow alcohol sales. Both towns are dry and have been since Prohibition was repealed in the early 1930s.

For Friendship, it will be the fourth time in recent years that residents have voted on the matter. Friendship voters, which number under 1,000, shot down alcohol sales in 1987, 1992 and 2000. But the owners of a grocery store say that being allowed to sell beer and wine will help them survive the economic downturn.

In Winona, the issue is whether to allow alcohol sales for off-premise consumption. The last vote, earlier this year, was tied but disallowed after several people who didn't live there apparently voted.

Maine has 40 towns that have some kinds of bans on alcohol but Friendship has the strongest rules.

"That's as dry as you can get," said a state liquor enforcement agent.

In West Virginia, there are only a few places that are dry, including Lincoln County (but not Hamlin) and Calhoun County. Kentucky has several more dry counties.