FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 22, 2024

Citizen initiative found valid with 76,081 signatures

AUGUSTA — The citizen initiative petition effort “An Act to Limit Contributions to Political Action Committees That Make Independent Expenditures” has been found valid, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows confirmed today.

The petitions for “An Act to Limit Contributions to Political Action Committees That Make Independent Expenditures” had been in circulation since Oct. 27, 2023. On Jan. 23, 2024 the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions received 11,313 petition forms with 84,025 signatures of voters who support the initiative.

Staff members at the Bureau completed the process of certifying all the petitions and found 76,081 valid signatures, while 7,944 were not valid. A minimum of 67,682 signatures from registered Maine voters was required for citizen initiatives submitted following the 2022 gubernatorial election (not less than 10% of the total votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election), thus the petition has been deemed valid by Secretary Bellows. The text of the decision is attached.

The initiative will now go to the Legislature for consideration, per the provisions of the Maine Constitution. The Legislature can choose to enact the bill as written or to send it forward to a statewide vote in November 2024.

Copy of the determination (PDF)

###