BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The Latest on Romania's vote to change the definition of marriage (all times local):

Election officials in Romania say too few voters participated in a weekend referendum that sought to put a same-sex marriage ban into the country's constitution, so the vote is void. Romanian conservative organizations and the Orthodox Church failed to mobilize enough voters to pass a referendum aiming to change the definition of the family in the constitution to “the union between a man and a woman.”

Romanian human rights activists and some politicians cheered on Sunday night as a referendum aiming to change the constitution so that it would only allow marriage between a man and a woman has failed to overcome the 30 per cent turnout threshold. The Central Election Bureau reported after polls closed Sunday that 20.41 percent of registered voters cast ballots on the proposed amendment. The conservative group that spearheaded a referendum to redefine marriage in Romania's Constitution and make it harder to legalize same-sex marriages is blaming "disinformation" for low voter turnout. Romanians were called to the polls after three years of intense political debates over LGBT rights, after the conservative Coalition for the Family – an umbrella organization for right-wing and church-backed NGOs – raised 3.2 million signatures and submitted a bill to parliament to ban gay marriage in the constitution. Secretary-General of the ruling Social Democrat Party Condrin Stefanescu said that the referendum was “a failure of Romanians and of Romania in general”. The head of the Romanian Orthodox Church is urging the faith's adherents to vote in a referendum that would make it harder to legalize same-sex marriage, if it passes. The church's news agency said Patriarch Daniel called on Romanians who hadn't yet cast ballots on Sunday to "vote before it's too late." Opponents say the new constitutional language could have made LGBT people feel more like second-class citizens and could discriminate against non-traditional families. The conservative Coalition for Family initiated the referendum and Romanian Orthodox priests during Sunday services encouraged the faithful to vote. But its Constitution uses gender-neutral language to define “family,” and conservative groups, fearing that could lead to legal recognition for same-sex relationships, sought the referendum.
A referendum on changing the constitutional definition of a family is invalidated, as voter turnout announced by the Central Electoral Bureau is 20.41%, 10% under the validation threshold.