JULY 25, 2023
CHAPTER
PASSED BY 3
LEGISLATURE FOR
APPROVAL AT CONSTITUTIONAL
REFERENDUM RESOLUTION
STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE
_____
S.P. 597 - L.D. 1477
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
Constitutional amendment. Resolved: Two thirds of each branch of the
Legislature concurring, that the following amendment to the Constitution of Maine be
proposed:
Constitution, Art. IV, Pt. Third, §20, as amended by CR 2019, c. 1, is further
amended to read:
Section 20. Meaning of words "electors," "people," "recess of
Legislature," "statewide election," "measure," "circulator," and "written
petition"; written petitions for people's veto; written petitions for direct
initiative. 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
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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.
Constitutional referendum procedure; form of question; effective date.
Resolved: That the municipal officers of this State shall notify the inhabitants of their
respective cities, towns and plantations to meet, in the manner prescribed by law for holding
a statewide election, at a statewide election held in the month of November following the
passage of this resolution, to vote upon the ratification of the amendment proposed in this
resolution by voting upon the following question:
"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?"
The legal voters of each city, town and plantation shall vote by ballot on this question
and designate their choice by a cross or check mark placed within the corresponding square
below the word "Yes" or "No." The ballots must be received, sorted, counted and declared
in open ward, town and plantation meetings and returns made to the Secretary of State in
the same manner as votes for members of the Legislature. The Governor shall review the
returns. If it appears that a majority of the legal votes are cast in favor of the amendment,
the Governor shall proclaim that fact without delay and the amendment becomes part of
the Constitution of Maine on the date of the proclamation.
Secretary of State shall prepare ballots. Resolved: That the Secretary of State
shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of
this resolution necessary to carry out the purposes of this referendum.
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