An appeals court upheld a challenge to Maine Secretary of State Shannon Bellows’ recent decision to invalidate an anti-transgender ballot question otherwise headed to voters in this fall’s midterm elections.
The initiative, which aimed to “restrict” transgender student access to bathrooms and sports in public schools, had supposedly cleared the legal hurdles to get on the ballot. However, the Secretary of State’s office found more than 12,000 invalid signatures on its petition to appear before voters this November.
Reports WGME TV-13:
A judge has sided with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows in a dispute over a ballot question involving transgender students in Maine.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, a Cumberland County Superior Court judge upheld Bellows’ decision Friday morning.
The proposed referendum would have asked voters whether they wanted to restrict participation in school sports, as well as the use of locker rooms and bathrooms, based solely on a student’s sex at birth.
Bellows said she invalidated the petition after finding that two paid, out-of-state circulators forged signatures, left petitions unattended, and failed to check a box indicating they would follow Maine law.The group behind the effort challenged Bellows’ ruling, but the court upheld her decision.
“To be clear, everyone has to follow the law,” Bellows said. “They must follow the law, and the circulators must follow all of the rules for collecting signatures. Especially circulators who are out of state, they have to recognize that even though they’re in a different state, Maine law applies.”
Bellows also said petitioners allowed signers to use ditto marks on the date line, which is not permitted under Maine law.
The group Protect Girls Sports argued that Bellows applied technical rules in a way that disenfranchised voters.
The organization said it plans to appeal the case to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
