FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 29, 2021
Contact: Kristen Schulze Muszynski
207-626-8400

An Act To Clarify the Eligibilty of Voters Petition Validity - PDF format

Citizens’ initiative effort regarding voter citizenship fails to submit minimum signatures

AUGUSTA – Secretary of State Shenna Bellows confirmed today that the citizens’ initiative effort “An Act To Clarify the Eligibility of Voters,” does not have enough signatures to move forward.

The proponents of this legislation submitted 17,622 petitions with 66,389 signatures to the Elections Division on February 26, 2021.

The Elections Division of the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions has completed the process of certifying the petitions and found 41,075 valid signatures, while 25,323 were not valid.

A minimum of 63,067 signatures from registered Maine voters is required, thus Secretary Bellows has found the petition to be invalid.

Petitions for this effort were issued for circulation on Aug. 26, 2019.According to the proposed bill summary, this legislation seeks to amend the voter qualification statute to emphasize that only those persons who meet the requirements listed in that section of law may vote in an election in a municipality.  The requirements listed in the existing statute include that the person must be a U.S. citizen, be at least 18 years of age by the time of the general election, have established and maintain a voting residence in the municipality and be registered to vote in that municipality.

Visit http://maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/citizens/index.html to view the proposed legislation in its entirety.