Maine Secretary Of State Notes Complaints About Anti-Marijuana Ballot Petitioners’ Tactics

*“We really encourage citizens to think about what you’re signing, why
you’re signing it, and what it means.”*

*By Emma Davis, Maine Morning Star*

In downtown Portland, as hundreds of Mainers gathered for an
anti-ICE protest Saturday, others were there to gather signatures for a petition to repeal
recreational marijuana in Maine.

Though, they didn’t present it as such. It’s about the testing of cannabis,
one petitioner said.

Misrepresentation of this citizen initiative by signature gatherers has
been documented across the state over the last few days. On Monday, state
legislators asked the overseer of elections, Secretary of State Shenna
Bellows (D), what could be done about it.

“Petitioners have a First Amendment right to say whatever they want to
say,” Bellows said during a meeting of the Veterans and Legal Affairs
Committee.

Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec), committee co-chair, chimed in, “You have a
right to lie under the First Amendment.”

Maine has a citizen-initiated referendum process that allows average people
to propose statutes or constitutional amendments to be put on the ballot if
they gather enough signatures. Bellows doesn’t have the authority to take
any enforcement action over the truth of what is being said about such
petitions, only about the validity of what’s in the text, underscoring the
legal limits to combatting misinformation.

“We really encourage citizens to think about what you’re signing, why
you’re signing it, and what it means, and to take the time to read the
legislation,” Bellows said.

In 2016, Maine voters legalized the recreational use of cannabis. The
proposed ballot referendum would do away with the commercial cultivation,
sale, purchase and manufacture of cannabis starting in 2028, while still
allowing personal use and possession of up to 2.5 ounces. It would also
create new testing and tracking requirements on medical cannabis, which the
industry has resisted in recent years.

It is not uncommon for someone to sign a petition thinking it is about
something else.

In 2024, for example, a person collecting signatures to try to get an
independent candidate on the presidential ballot in Maine instead told
people who ended up signing the petition that it was an effort to stop
politicians from being able to trade stocks. The signees only later found
out the true contents of what they’d signed when a law firm representing
others who fell victim to the deceptive practices contacted them.

This issue is also not unique to Maine.

Nearby Massachusetts has a similar referendum effort underway to
recriminalize cannabis in that state, and witnesses there have also accused
signature-gatherers of misleading people, such as saying the effort was for
affordable housing, reducing impaired driving or protecting youth from
being jailed for cannabis.

The Massachusetts Secretary of State and Attorney General Office’s issued
a joint advisory urging voters to read petitions carefully before
signing and to contact local officials if they believe they were deceived.

Maine’s Department of the Secretary of State relies on the signature
validation process to identify potential violations.

For example, the petition paperwork available to signees must include a
copy of the actual statutory changes that would be made to the law should
the referendum pass.

Petitions also can’t be left unattended at a location, such as a campaign
placing one by the door of an event and encouraging people to sign it on
their way out. Only one person can circulate a given petition and that
person has to personally witness each signature, taking an oath before a
notary to as much.

Expressing frustration with a few bad actors spoiling the referendum
process for others, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Jill Duson
(D-Cumberland) suggested creating a process to file complaints, though
limited department resources and time would present challenges for that to
work in practice.

Absent enforcement authority, Bellows said she would tell the petition
organizers that her department has received a significant number of
complaints over the last several days about the activities of their
circulators.

Ultimately, as Hickman put it, when it comes to regulating this type of
malfeasance: “It’s a gentleman’s agreement. It’s an honor system. People
have to act as if they’re going to respect the letter of the law. There are
bad actors and there are outlaws and there are people that are just going
to do what they’re going to do, and there’s nothing any of us can do about
it.”

*This story was first published by Maine Morning Star.*

*Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.*

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Ballot Petitioners’ Tactics appeared first on Marijuana Moment.