Maine Question 7, Remove Residency Requirement for Initiative Petition Circulators Amendment (2023)

Maine Question 7
Election date November 7, 2023
Topic Direct democracy measures
Status d Defeated
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Maine Question 7, the Remove Residency Requirement for Initiative Petition Circulators Amendment, was on the ballot in Maine as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 7, 2023. It was defeated.

A "yes" vote supported removing a constitutional provision, previously found unconstitutional by a federal appellate court, that says a circulator for a citizen initiative or referendum petition must be a citizen of Maine.

A "no" vote opposed removing a constitutional provision, previously found unconstitutional by a federal appellate court, that says a circulator for a citizen initiative or referendum petition must be a citizen of Maine.

Election results

Maine Question 7
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		122,646	31.26%
No		269,699	68.74%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What would this amendment have done?

See also: Constitutional changes

This amendment would have removed the requirement that a circulator (a person who collects signatures for initiative and referendum petitions) must be a resident of the state of Maine.

This amendment would have aligned the Maine Constitution with a decision by the First Court of Appeals in the We the People PAC et al. v. Bellows decision, which affirmed a decision by a U.S. District Court that requiring a circulator for written petition in Maine to be a Maine resident is a violation of the First Amendment.

Did other states have residency requirements for petition circulators?

See also: Residency requirements for petition circulators by state

Out of 26 states with statewide initiative or veto referendum processes, seven states had residency requirements for ballot initiative and veto referendum petition circulators: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Utah. In addition to Maine, two other states — Colorado and Mississippi — had requirements in statute, but courts had invalidated or blocked the enforcement of the statutes.

How did this measure get on the ballot?

See also: Path to the ballot

The amendment, LD 1477, was sponsored by Sen. Craig Hickman (D). For the state legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in Maine, a two-thirds majority (66.67%) vote is required from each chamber during one legislative session.

On June 21, the Maine State Senate voted to engross the amendment, and on June 22, the Maine House of Representatives voted to engross the amendment. On July 25, the state legislature voted to certify the amendment to the ballot.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot question for the measure was as follows:

“

QUESTION 7: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Align the Proceedings for Circulating Written Petitions for People's Vetoes and Direct Initiatives with Federal Law. Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision requiring a circulator of a citizen's initiative or people's veto petition to be a resident of Maine and a registered voter in Maine, requirements that have been ruled unconstitutional in federal court?

”

Fiscal impact statement

The official fiscal impact statement was as follows:

“

This resolution proposes to amend the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision requiring a circulator of a citizen's initiative or people's veto petition to be a resident of the State of Maine and registered to vote in Maine. Removing this provision will not create additional costs for the State.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article IV--Part Third, Maine Constitution

The ballot measure would have amended Section 20 of Article IV, Part Third of the Maine Constitution. The following struck-through text would be deleted:

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

As used in any of the 3 preceding sections or in this section the words "electors" and "people" mean the electors of the State qualified to vote for Governor; "recess of the Legislature" means the adjournment without day of a session of the Legislature; "statewide election" means any election held throughout the State on a particular day; "measure" means an Act, bill, resolve or resolution proposed by the people, or 2 or more such, or part or parts of such, as the case may be; "circulator" means a person who solicits signatures for written petitions, and who must be a resident of this State and whose name must appear on the voting list of the city, town or plantation of the circulator's residence as qualified to vote for Governor; "written petition" means one or more petitions written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, with the original signatures of the petitioners, or, as authorized by law, the alternative signatures of persons with physical disabilities that prevent them from signing their own names, attached, verified as to the authenticity of the signatures by the oath of the circulator that all of the signatures to the petition were made in the presence of the circulator and that to the best of the circulator's knowledge and belief each signature is the signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and accompanied by the certificate of the official authorized by law to maintain the voting list or to certify signatures on petitions for voters on the voting list of the city, town or plantation in which the petitioners reside that their names appear on the voting list of the city, town or plantation of the official as qualified to vote for Governor. The oath of the circulator must be sworn to in the presence of a person authorized by law to administer oaths. Written petitions for a people's veto pursuant to Article IV, Part Third, Section 17 must be submitted to the appropriate officials of cities, towns or plantations, or state election officials as authorized by law, for determination of whether the petitioners are qualified voters by the hour of 5:00 p.m., on the 5th day before the petition must be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, or, if such 5th day is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, by 5:00 p.m., on the next day which is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday. Written petitions for a direct initiative pursuant to Article IV, Part Third, Section 18 must be submitted to the appropriate officials of cities, towns or plantations, or state election officials as authorized by law, for determination of whether the petitioners are qualified voters by the hour of 5:00 p.m., on the 10th day before the petition must be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, or, if such 10th day is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, by 5:00 p.m., on the next day which is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday. Such officials must complete the certification of only those petitions submitted by these deadlines and must return them to the circulators or their agents within 2 days for a petition for a people's veto and within 5 days for a petition for a direct initiative, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, of the date on which such petitions were submitted to them. Signatures on petitions not submitted to the appropriate local or state officials by these deadlines may not be certified. The petition shall set forth the full text of the measure requested or proposed. Petition forms shall be furnished or approved by the Secretary of State upon written application signed and notarized and submitted to the office of the Secretary of State by a resident of this State whose name must appear on the voting list of the city, town or plantation of that resident as qualified to vote for Governor. The full text of a measure submitted to a vote of the people under the provisions of the Constitution need not be printed on the official ballots, but, until otherwise provided by the Legislature, the Secretary of State shall prepare the ballots in such form as to present the question or questions concisely and intelligibly.

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 21, and the FRE is 9. The word count for the ballot title is 71.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• State Sen. Craig Hickman (D)
• State Rep. David Boyer (R)
• State Rep. Laura Supica (D)

Arguments

• Shenna Bellows (D), secretary of state of Maine: "This bill is simply to align the Maine Constitution with the First Circuit Court’s decision, which affirmed a U.S. District Court decision that requiring a circulator to be a Maine resident and to satisfy the voter registration requirements for Maine violates the First Amendment, as incorporated against the states by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."

Opposition

Opponents

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

Arguments

• Linda Haskell, co-chair of the Republican Party of Garland: "We The People oppose further manipulation of our Maine Constitution. It appears this is another attempt to further the destruction of the Maine Constitution as we have known it since October 29, 1819, 204 years ago, our forefathers worked to make a better life for the residents of the State of Maine."

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.

	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:

• Portland Press Herald Editorial Board: "The federal court ruling against residency or voter registration requirements for people circulating petitions speaks for itself. Even if this editorial board found itself at odds with the court’s ruling, and we do not, it would be prudent to amend it to reflect the legal reality. Even if it is voted down, the requirement will not be enforceable – housekeeping. As it happens, we’re with the court on this one. Placing old-fashioned limits on petitioners closes off segments of the electorate while impeding civic participation or, to borrow the court’s words, 'core political speech.'"
• BDN Editorial Board: "In a nutshell, a federal court has ruled that a provision in the state Constitution that requires petition circulators to be Maine residents and registered voters in Maine violates the U.S. Constitution. As a result, that provision is unenforceable and needs to come out of the Maine Constitution."

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 7, Remove Residency Requirement for Initiative Petition Circulators 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%	31%	17%	52%
	Question: "If the 2023 Maine Referendum Election were held today, how would you vote on the following ballot questions? Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Align the Proceedings for Circulating Written Petitions for People's Vetoes and Direct Initiatives with Federal Law"
Note: LV is likely voters, RV is registered voters, and EV is eligible voters.

Background

We the People PAC et al. v. Bellows

See also: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, We the People PAC et al. v. Bellows, July 7, 2022

On July 7, 2022, the First Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined the state from enforcing a law requiring petition circulators to be registered voters, and, therefore, state residents. "[T]he burden on core political speech that the residency- and voter-registration requirements each imposes arises from the drastic limitation on the pool of out-of-state circulators that each inherently imposes," wrote the Court.

We the People PAC initiated the litigation. The PAC hired professional out-of-state petition circulators, along with in-state circulators, to collect signatures for the Citizen Requirement for Voting Initiative.

On February 16, 2021, Judge John Woodcock of the U.S. District Court for Maine enjoined the state from enforcing a law requiring petition circulators to be registered voters, and, therefore, state residents. Woodcock wrote that "the First Amendment’s free speech protections trump the state’s regulatory authority."

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows appealed the district court's ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

Residency requirements for petition circulators by state

See also: Residency requirements for petition circulators

Residency requirements for petition circulators are laws that require that petition circulators, also referred to as signature gatherers, legally reside in a particular political jurisdiction if the signatures they collect are to be considered valid.

As of February 2021, seven states out of 26 with statewide initiative or veto referendum processes had residency requirements for ballot initiative and veto referendum petition circulators. An additional three states—Colorado, Maine, and Mississippi—had requirements in statute, but courts had invalidated or blocked the enforcement of the statutes. The map below illustrates which states have residency requirements for ballot initiative and veto referendum petition circulators:

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

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 Maine Senate Bill 1477 in the 2023-2024 legislative session. On June 21, the Maine State Senate voted to engross the amendment, and on June 22, the Maine House of Representatives voted to engross the amendment. On July 25, the state legislature voted to certify the amendment to the ballot.

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.

How to cast a vote in Maine

Poll times In Maine, municipalities with a population of 500 or more open their polls between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., while municipalities with a population of less than 500 open their polls between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. All polls close at 8:00 p.m. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Registration Check your voter registration status here. To register to vote in Maine, one must be "a United States citizen, at least 16 years of age to pre-register to vote, and have established a fixed principal home in Maine. To vote in a Referendum or General Election, you must be registered in the community where you reside, and be at least 18 years of age. A 17 year old may vote in a Primary Election, if that person will be 18 by the General Election." Voters can return completed registration cards in person or by mail to their town office or city hall, any Motor Vehicle branch office, most state & federal social service agencies, or a voter registration drive. There is no deadline for voter registration if completed in person. If registering by mail, the deadline is 21 days prior to the election. When registering for the first time in Maine, voters must provide documents verifying their identity and residence. The following documents are acceptable identification for the purpose of registering to vote: Government ID with a photo (i.e. driver’s license, State ID, valid U.S. Passport, military ID, ID card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe) Government ID without photo (i.e. certified birth certificate or signed Social Security card) Other official document showing the name and address of voter (i.e. eligibility for public benefits, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck) Student photo ID from a state-approved public or private school or institute of higher education in Maine Maine driver’s license number or last four digits of Social Security Number Automatic registration On June 19, 2019, Gov. Janet Mills signed an automatic voter registration bill into law that was scheduled for implementation in 2022. The law registers voters through the Department of Motor Vehicles. Online registration See also: Online voter registration Maine does not permit online voter registration. Governor Janet T. Mills (D) signed L.D. 126 into law on July 9, 2021, allowing online voter registration in Maine. This legislation went into effect on November 1, 2023. Same-day registration Maine allows same-day voter registration. Residency requirements To register to vote in Maine, you must be a resident of the state. State law does not specify a length of time for which you must have been a resident to be eligible. Verification of citizenship See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States Maine does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. Voter ID requirements Maine does not require voters to present identification while voting. If a voter registers to vote on Election Day, he or she must provide identification and proof of residence.

See also

2023 measures

• 2023 ballot measures
• Direct democracy measures on the ballot
• Voting policy measures on the ballot
• 2023 legislative sessions

Maine

• Maine ballot measures
• Maine ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Text of Amendment