Voting measures are access will be restricted Restrooms and sports teams for transgender youth maine It may be discarded due to an error in the signature collection process.
Staff at the Maine Secretary of State’s office said the more than 12,000 signatures supporting its inclusion in the bill should be invalidated because petitioners did not comply with collection procedures, according to state news outlets. main morning star. If those signatures are rejected, the proposal will fall below the threshold needed to appear on the ballot this November.
The resulting voting proposal From the campaign The bill, sponsored by conservative advocates in the state, would effectively ban transgender students from using school restrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Related: Signature controversy could derail Maine’s anti-trans voting plans
Lawyers representing residents who support its inclusion in the ballot measure said they intend to challenge the signature nullification proposal.
“The invalidation of voter signatures is a serious problem,” attorney Tim Woodcock said, according to the newspaper. morning star. “The effort here is to prevent voters from considering initiatives that many of their fellow voters thought should be considered, whether or not they substantively supported them.”
Related: This Maine school district passed a trans-inclusive policy. Online comments provide added security
But community members and opponents of the bill have long argued that petitions related to the campaign were improperly handled, including claims that signature forms were left in public places. State officials also found that some petition circulaters did not properly authenticate signatures before submitting them to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Maine Secretary of State Shena Bellows is expected to make a final decision on whether to leave the proposal on the ballot on Tuesday. Opponents of the initiative argue that campaigns are not adhering to election safeguards designed to protect the integrity of the voting process.
“There are some serious concerns with the signature-gathering practices here, and there are rules in place to ensure that only a sufficient number of valid signatures are submitted,” Ben Stafford, an attorney representing residents opposing the ballot addition, said in a statement, according to the Morning Star. “That never happened here.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
