Say what you might about Linda Seavey — at least she saw this coming.

Seavey, who lives in Plymouth, volunteered back in 2009 to help overturn Maine’s same-sex marriage law before it could take effect.

She also played a prominent role in “Question 1,” the documentary in which New York City filmmakers Joe Fox and James Nubile artfully captured the behind-the-scenes maneuvering by both sides in the bitterly fought campaign.

In one scene, an agitated Seavey worries aloud that even if her side wins — which it did, by a solid 53-47 percent majority — the fight will not be over.

“They keep marching on and marching on and marching on,” Seavey says, referring to same-sex couples at the center of this social maelstrom. “Well you know, enough is enough.”

Except it isn’t.

Early Thursday afternoon, supporters of same-sex marriage submitted petitions containing more than 105,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office — all but guaranteeing them a spot on the ballot when voters flock to the polls this November.

As EqualityMaine’s Executive Director Betsy Smith noted in an interview, this will be the sixth time since 1995 that Mainers have voted on equal rights for gays and lesbians in one form or another. The first four dealt with the now-settled inclusion of sexual orientation under the Maine Human Rights Act.

“And by the way,” Smith promised, “this is the last one on marriage and the last one on anything.”

A little cocky coming out of the gate? The opposition undoubtedly will say so.

They’ll also complain, much as Seavey did to the documentarians, that it’s too soon to do this again, that the people have spoken, that Maine is weary of this debate and has no interest in hearing it all over again so soon.

Countered Smith, “Our conversations with them have not indicated any kind of fatigue with this issue at all.”

Those conversations, Smith noted, now number about 40,000 and counting — many if not most of them on doorsteps throughout rural Maine, where 2009’s post-election numbers showed same-sex-marriage supporters had the most persuading to do.

“We have found that people will stand at their doors and have a 15- to 20-minute conversation about marriage,” Smith said. “And they will think deeply about it and move on the issue and acknowledge that they’ve moved on the issue.”

In other words, this fight never really ended — at least for the pro-equal-rights side. Indeed, a steady stream of polling data over the past year strongly suggests that Mainers, like all Americans, are in full migration when it comes to who should be allowed to marry whom.

According to a poll released Thursday by supporters of same-sex marriage, 54 percent of Mainers who say they’re likely to vote in November now favor allowing same-sex couples to marry.

The poll of 800 Mainers was conducted last month by California-based by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research. It included cellphones as well as land lines and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.5 percentage points.

The new numbers virtually mirror those from a poll done by the same firm in May, when 53 percent of likely Maine voters gave thumbs-up on same-sex marriage. And back in February of 2011, yet another survey, by Kiley and Co. of Boston, showed 53 percent support.

So has Maine moved that much that fast? Could the social pendulum alone knock that 47 percent all the way up to 54 percent in just over two years?

Maybe.

Among those who stepped up to the podium as the initiative was announced Thursday was Michael Gray, pastor of the Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church. He recalled a time when he considered himself a Rush Limbaugh conservative, an evangelical Christian and a steadfast opponent of “special rights” for gays and lesbians.

No longer.

“I really struggled with the issue of same-sex marriage,” Gray told those who packed the State House Welcome Center. “But through study, prayer and patience, I can gratefully say that my faith now informs me differently.”

Meaning?

“My faith tells me that gays and lesbians are no different than I,” the pastor continued. “My faith tells me that I cannot discriminate. My faith tells me that loving, committed, same-sex couples deserve the same access to marriage that my wife and I enjoy.”

It is, say those who have been out knocking on those doors the past two years, a commonly heard theme: Yes, I was against same sex marriage. But the more same-sex couples I meet and the more I think about exactly what it is they’re seeking, the harder it becomes to say no.

To be sure, those ever-changing minds aren’t the only thing in a state of flux this time around. There’s also the simple math that surrounds any election cycle.

The last same-sex marriage referendum occurred in an off-year election, which tends to attract more older, conservative voters than younger, more liberal ones.

This year’s vote will coincide with a presidential election — meaning those younger voters, for whom same-sex marriage typically provokes little more than a yawn, will be out in droves.

Put more simply, if you thought Maine’s 55 percent voter turnout was impressive in 2009, wait until the participation meter hits the high 60s or low 70s come Nov. 6.

So like it or not, this time is different. And to dismiss this looming citizens initiative as a waste of time is to forget how meaningful social change has always drawn its power from marching on … and marching on … and marching on …

One last thing about Linda Seavey.

During a particularly poignant moment in “Question 1,” the same-sex-marriage opponent reflects tenderly on what her 40-year marriage to her husband, Mike, has meant to her.

It’s hard to resist a sympathetic smile as she explains how they can finish each other’s sentences … how they often seem to know what the other is thinking … how like with any couple it “hasn’t always been a bed of roses” …

“But we made a promise — ’til death do us part — and I plan on keeping that promise,” Seavey says with rock-solid confidence. “To me, that commitment is so important.”

Precisely, Mrs. Seavey.

See you at the polls.

Columnist Bill Nemitz can be contacted at 791-6323 or at:

bnemitz@mainetoday.com