Maine voters on Tuesday supported a state constitutional amendment that guarantees a right to grow and consume food.

With 58% of precincts reporting, Question 3 appeared headed for passage with 61% voting in favor and 39% voting against, according to unofficial election night results.

“This is amazing,” said Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor), the bill’s sponsor. “First in the nation, amazing. First and foremost I give all glory to God and we just did what we needed to do. We kept the truth in front and the people of Maine chose liberty.”

The amendment, which earned the bipartisan support of more than two-thirds of Maine lawmakers earlier this year, declares that “all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health and well-being.”

Bill co-sponsor Rep. Jennifer Poirier (R-Skowhegan) described the amendment as a proactive step to protect farming, hunting and fishing rights. The amendment also earned the support of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, which saw it as a way to enshrine the right to hunt and fish into the constitution.

Supporters spent about $22,000 to promote the amendment and opponents spent about $28,000 against it, according to campaign finance reports.

Opponents included the Maine Municipal Association, Maine Farm Bureau, Maine Potato Board, Maine Veterinary Medical Association, Maine Friends of Animals and the Maine Animal Coalition. The opposition said it believed the vague wording of the amendment is likely to lead to lawsuits in schools and jails as the courts try to interpret the right to “consume the food of their own choosing.”

Since Maine became a state in 1820, voters have approved 174 amendments to the state constitution. The most recent was in November 2019 when voters approved an amendment to allow persons with disabilities to sign petitions in an alternative manner.

Faulkingham said that constitutional amendments are often forward-looking and attempt to protect rights even before they need it.

“Presently, do we need a right to grow a garden, or raise livestock?” he wrote in testimony presented to lawmakers earlier this year. “No. I think today in most instances, that is a given. Jumping ahead 25 or 50 years into the future, could we see our government creating roadblocks and restrictions to the people’s right to food?”

Faulkingham also noted that he spent time working with Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Winthrop), who has sponsored previous “right to food” amendments.