Maine Question 5, Change Time Period of Judicial Review of Initiative Petitions Amendment (2023)

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Maine Question 5
Flag of Maine.png
Election date
November 7, 2023
Topic
Direct democracy measures
Status
Approveda Approved
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
State legislature

Maine Question 5, the Change Time Period of Judicial Review of Initiative Petitions Amendment, was on the ballot in Maine as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 7, 2023.[1] It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported this constitutional amendment to change the timeline for the judicial review of initiative petitions, including:

  • changing the judicial review period from within 100 days of a petition being filed to within 100 business days of a petition being filed; and
  • allowing the judicial review period to begin 30 days after a general election when an initiative petition is filed within 30 days of a general election.

A "no" vote opposed this constitutional amendment to change the timeline for the judicial review of initiative petitions, thus keeping the judicial review period as within 100 days of a petition being filed.


Election results

Maine Question 5

Result Votes Percentage

Approved Yes

227,602 57.70%
No 166,876 42.30%
Results are officially certified.
Source

Overview

What did Question 5 change about the citizen initiative process in Maine?

See also: Constitutional changes

This amendment changed the judicial review period for citizen-initiated ballot measures in Maine, which is in place for the secretary of state to determine the validity of written petitions. Rather than requiring the judicial review to be completed within 100 days from when the initiative was filed with the secretary of state, the amendment required that the judicial review be completed within 100 business days from when the initiative was filed with the secretary of state.[1]

This amendment also required the judicial review period to begin 30 days after a general election if the initiative was filed within 30 calendar days before or after the general election. This judicial review period was also set to be 100 business days.[1]

What does the judicial review process of citizen initiatives entail?

See also: Petition review process in Maine

In Maine, citizens can initiate legislation through the process of the indirect initiative. Successful petitions that have undergone judicial review and are certified are first presented to the Maine State Legislature. The Legislature can approve the law, or if the measure is not adopted without change or is vetoed by the governor, the law is placed before voters.

Before the petitions are presented to the Maine State Legislature, supporters of the initiative need to submit the minimum number of valid signatures for the measure to be certified. The number of valid signatures is equal to the 10 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election prior to the filing of the petition.

Petition signatures are submitted to state officials, and the petitions then undergo a reviewing process. Staff hand-count petitions and ensure that each page has corresponding legislation stapled to it, and then arrange petitions alphabetically by town name. Staff then manually input information from the petitions into the database, and then check for any potential duplicate signatures. Petitions then undergo a certification process, which includes reviewing proper dates, circulator affidavits, and proper notarization of the petition. Once that is reviewed, the valid signatures are then entered into the database, along with the names of the circulators and the notaries and the date of the notarization. The data entry is then checked to ensure that the number of valid and invalid signatures were properly recorded.[2]

How was this measure placed on the ballot?

See also: Path to the ballot

This measure was placed on the ballot by the Maine State Legislature. In Maine, the Legislature is able to refer constitutional amendments and state statutes to the ballot. For a constitutional amendment to be referred to the ballot, a two-thirds majority (66.67%) vote was required during one legislative session.

The legislation was introduced as LD 1012 in the 2023-2024 legislative session. On June 23, the Maine House of Representatives and Maine State Senate voted to engross the amendment. On July 25, the state legislature voted to certify the amendment to the ballot.[3]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The official ballot title was as follows:

“ QUESTION 5: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine Regarding the Timing of Judicial Review of the Determination of the Validity of Written Petitions. Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to change the time period for judicial review of the validity of written petitions from within 100 days from the date of filing to within 100 business days from the date of filing of a written petition in the office of the Secretary of State, with an exception for petitions filed within 30 calendar days before or after a general election?

[4]

”

Fiscal impact statement

The official fiscal impact statement was as follows:[5]

“

The Constitution of Maine provides that a judicial review of a determination of the validity of a written petition occur within 100 calendar days from the date of filing of a written petition with the Secretary of State. This resolution proposes to amend the Constitution to provide that the time period for judicial review is 100 business days from the date of filing, unless the petition is filed within 30 calendar days before or after a general election, in which case the judicial review must be completed within 100 business days after the 30th calendar day following that general election. This proposed amendment to the Constitution of Maine is not expected to have an impact on the costs to State Government of judicial review. [4]

”

Constitutional changes

’’See also: Maine Constitution’’

Question 5 amended Article IV, Part Third, Section 22 of the Maine Constitution. The following underlined text was added and struck-through text was deleted:[1]

Note: Use your mouse to scroll over the below text to see the full text.

Text of Section 22: Election Officers and Officials, How Governed

Until the Legislature shall enact further laws not inconsistent with the Constitution for applying the people's veto and direct initiative, the election officers and other officials shall be governed by the provisions of this Constitution and of the general law, supplemented by such reasonable action as may be necessary to render the preceding sections self executing. The Legislature may enact laws not inconsistent with the Constitution to establish procedures for determination of the validity of written petitions. Such laws shall include provision for judicial review of any determination, to be completed within 100 business days from the date of filing of a written petition in the office of the Secretary of State, except that, if a petition is filed within 30 calendar days before or after a general election, the judicial review must be completed within 100 business days after the 30th calendar day following that general election. [4]

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2023

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The secretary of state wrote the ballot language for this measure.

The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 23, and the FRE is 12. The word count for the ballot title is 91.


Support

Supporters

Officials

Arguments

  • Julie L. Flynn, deputy secretary of state: "L.D. 1012, in conjunction with L.D. 233 heard last month, is an important bill that will protect the integrity of Maine elections by smoothing out the workflow requirements placed on a small elections staff without creating a significant impact on the petitions process or increased costs to the state. Specifically, L.D. 1012 changes the time period for judicial review of the validity of a written petition, from 100 days after submission of the petition to 100 days after the deadline for submission to the Elections Division. This bill does not change the amount of time a petition campaign has to gather signatures, nor the lifespan of those signatures. Additionally, this bill does not change the timeframe in which the court may conduct judicial review."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not locate a campaign in opposition to the ballot measure.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Maine ballot measures

Ballotpedia did not identify ballot measure committees registered to support or oppose the ballot measure.[6]

Cash Contributions In-Kind Contributions Total Contributions Cash Expenditures Total Expenditures
Support $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Oppose $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

Media editorials

See also: 2023 ballot measure media endorsements

Support

The following media editorial boards published an editorial supporting the ballot measure:

  • BDN Editorial Board: "Like many of the questions on the Nov. 7 ballot, Question 5 seems complex and bureaucratic, but it has a simple goal. The intent of this question is to give the secretary of state’s office more time to analyze and verify the signatures collected on petitions to get citizen’s initiatives and people’s vetoes on the ballot. It does not change the signature requirements or shorten the amount of time that petitioners have to collect them. Instead, the change would give the secretary of state’s office more time to review tens of thousands of signatures, if they are submitted close to a general election. The process is labor intensive, with people reviewing individual signatures to make sure they are valid."
  • Portland Press Herald Editorial Board: "This sensible change comes at no cost to Maine. In fact, it may save our state money by enabling election staffers to work on reviews at a reasonable pace and not be forced into overtime. Staffing is a headache everywhere, and this is a labor-intensive process (and, as every Mainer has by now noticed, increasingly popular one – for better or worse)."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not locate media editorial boards in opposition to the ballot measure.

Polls

See also: 2023 ballot measure polls
Are you aware of a poll on this ballot measure that should be included below? You can share ballot measure polls, along with source links, with us at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Maine Question 5, Change Time Period of Judicial Review of Initiative Petitions Amendment (2023)
Poll
Dates
Sample size
Margin of error
Support
Oppose
Undecided
University of New Hampshire 10/19/23-10/23/23 2750 LV ± 3.5% 30% 13% 56%
Question: "If the 2023 Maine Referendum Election were held today, how would you vote on the following ballot questions Question 5: Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine Regarding the Timing of Judicial Review of the Determination of the Validity of Written Petitions"
Note: LV is likely voters, RV is registered voters, and EV is eligible voters.

Background

Petition review process in Maine

Once signatures have been collected for a citizen initiative in Maine, state officials must verify the number of valid signatures and exclude fraudulent signatures. As of 2023, the process for reviewing submitted signatures, according to Deputy Secretary of State Julie L. Flynn, was as follows:[2]

  • First, a campaign submits boxes of petitions. Elections staff remove every petition from the box and ensure they are arranged alphabetically by town. Staff check that each page has corresponding legislation stapled to it, hand count the petitions twice into batches of fifty, and place them in new folders and boxes.[2]
  • Numeric stickers are placed on each petition page. Staff manually input information from the petitions into the database, including the name of the signer, the town where the person signing is registered, the petition number, and the line number where the signature appears.[2]
  • Staff then conduct checks for duplicate signatures using information inputted into the database. Staff review potential duplicate signatures by examining the signature and handwriting to determine whether the signature was made by the same person on each petition.[2]
  • After any duplicate signatures have been reviewed, petitions then undergo a certification process, which includes reviewing proper dates, circulator affidavits, and proper notarization of the petition. Once reviewed, the valid signatures are entered into the database, along with the names of the circulators and the notaries and the date of the notarization.[2]
  • Every petition and the corresponding data entry are proofed to ensure the number of valid and invalid signatures were properly recorded.[2]

Maine historical facts

See also: List of Maine ballot measures and History of Initiative & Referendum in Maine

In Maine, a total of 249 ballot measures appeared on statewide ballots between 1985 and 2022. One hundred eighty-six ballot measures were approved, and 63 ballot measures were defeated.

Maine statewide ballot measures, 1985-2022
Total number Annual average Annual minimum Annual maximum Approved Defeated
# % # %
249
5.52
2
9
186
74.70
63
25.30

Ballot initiative certification rates

See also: Ballot initiatives filed for the 2023 ballot

The following table shows the rate of certification for ballot initiatives in Maine between 2010 and 2022:

Maine statewide ballot initiatives filed and certified, 2010-2022
Year Ballot initiatives filed Certified
# %
2022
1
0
0.0
2021
2
1
50.0
2020
9
1
11.1
2019
17
0
0.0
2018
3
2
66.7
2017
7
2
28.6
2016
10
5
50.0
2015
6
1
16.7
2014
6
1
16.7
2013
3
0
0.0
2012
6
1
16.7
2011
6
3
50.0
2010
6
2
33.3
Averages
6.3
1.4
26.1

Path to the ballot

A two-thirds majority (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session for the Maine State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 101 votes in the Maine House of Representatives and 24 votes in the Maine State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

The legislation was introduced as LD 1012 in the 2023-2024 legislative session. On June 23, the Maine House of Representatives and Maine State Senate voted to engross the amendment. On July 25, the state legislature voted to certify the amendment to the ballot.[3]

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Maine

Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Maine.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Maine Legislature, "Text Overview," accessed June 27, 2023
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Maine Legislature, "Testimony of Julie L. Flynn, Deputy Secretary of State," accessed August 3, 2023
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 State of Maine Legislature, "Maine Senate Bill 1477," accessed June 26, 2023
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content
  5. ↑ Maine Secretary of State, "Maine Citizen's Guide to the Referendum Election," accessed September 26, 2023
  6. ↑ Maine Campaign Finance, "Maine Ethics Commission," accessed August 2, 2023
  7. ↑ Maine Revised Statutes, "Title 21-A, Chapter 9, Section 626," accessed April 14, 2023
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Maine Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions, "State of Maine Voter Guide," accessed April 14, 2023
  9. ↑ WMTW 8, “Maine governor signs automatic voter registration bill into law,” June 21, 2019
  10. ↑ Maine Legislature, "H.P. 804 - L.D. 1126: An Act To Update the Voter Registration Process," accessed June 8, 2023
  11. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Same Day Voter Registration," accessed January 31, 2023
  12. ↑ Maine Secretary of State, "Your Right to Vote in Maine," accessed April 15, 2023
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