Last week, the Secretary of State in Maine just shot down a petition against us.
Secretary of State invalidates anti-trans ballot question due to improper signature gathering
Maine Morning StarBy: Eesha Pendharkar
May 26, 2026Secretary of State Shenna Bellows invalidated a citizen-led ballot initiative aiming to restrict transgender students’ access to school bathrooms, locker rooms and team sports that align with their gender identity. That’s because the group leading the effort did not collect enough valid signatures to qualify for a ballot referendum, she said at a Tuesday press conference in Augusta.
Bellows’ decision follows a recommendation from Chief Deputy Secretary of State Katherine McBrien after she presided over a hearing earlier this month regarding signature validity and found that more than 12,000 had been collected improperly.
“Citizen initiatives are direct democracy. Just as we take voting security seriously, we take petition integrity seriously,” Bellows said in a statement. “Unfortunately, some out-of-state circulators failed to meet certain legal requirements for petitions, resulting in this initiative failing to qualify for the ballot after legal review.”
They blew it! They didn't follow the rules.
Over the course of the hearing, a pattern of negligence within the campaign emerged, with signature collectors admitting to leaving petition forms unattended, among other infractions.[...]“Unfortunately, in this case, at least two out-of-state circulators failed to follow Maine law, and that is why their petitions have been invalidated,” she added.
Out-of-state circulators are not allowed to gather signatures or be paid for circulation under the Maine Constitution, but they are allowed to do so under the U.S. Constitution. Litigation around the initiative process has resulted in courts ruling that out-of-state circulators may gather signatures, and that they may be paid per signature, Bellows explained, even though “many legislators and many members of the public think out-of-staters shouldn’t be permitted to gather signatures.”
Sorry Charlie!
All the signature collectors that appeared at the May 12 hearing were out-of-state residents, paid per signature by the “Protect Girls Sports” campaign. Some of them left petitions unattended while voters signed them, others were accused of filling petitions out themselves. Bellows said election staff had “sat down for multiple hours with those spearheading this particular initiative to walk them through the law and the requirements in detail.”
Sorry, Charlie!
All the signature collectors who appeared at the May 12 hearing were out-of-state residents, paid per signature by the “Protect Girls Sports” campaign. Some of them left petitions unattended while voters signed them, and others were accused of filling petitions out themselves. Bellows said election staff had “sat down for multiple hours with those spearheading this particular initiative to walk them through the law and the requirements in detail.”
That is what happens when you have people not from the state collecting signatures—they don't know the rules! There are chapters all around the nation. Protect Girls Sports is a right-wing organization funded by the America First Policy Institute, which was founded and is run by top officials from the first Trump administration. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is funded in part by The Servant Foundation, the National Christian Charitable Foundation, and—here is someone you might recognize—The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.
There are also shady donors: DonorsTrust & Donors Capital Fund, known widely as the "dark money ATM" of the conservative movement.
All the signature collectors who appeared at the May 12 hearing were out-of-state residents, paid per signature by the “Protect Girls Sports” campaign. Some of them left petitions unattended while voters signed them, and others were accused of filling petitions out themselves. Bellows said election staff had “sat down for multiple hours with those spearheading this particular initiative to walk them through the law and the requirements in detail.”
That is what happens when you have people not from the state collecting signatures—they don't know the rules! There are chapters all around the nation. Protect Girls Sports is a right-wing organization funded by the America First Policy Institute, which was founded and is run by top officials from the first Trump administration. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is funded in part by The Servant Foundation, the National Christian Charitable Foundation, and—here is someone you might recognize—The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.
There are also shady donors: DonorsTrust & Donors Capital Fund, known widely as the "dark money ATM" of the conservative movement.
However, all the king’s stoolies and all the king’s men couldn’t put this petition together again!
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