Maine Trans Athlete Ban Knocked Off November Ballot
A proposed ban on transgender athletes and bathroom access fell short after state officials invalidated thousands of petition signatures.
A Maine ballot initiative that would have barred transgender youth from competing on public school sports teams or using bathrooms that do not align with their sex assigned at birth will not appear on November’s ballot.
The referendum was knocked off the ballot on May 26 after Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democratic candidate for governor, ruled that the group behind the measure, “Protect Girls Sports in Maine,” had failed to collect enough valid petition signatures to place the question before voters.
In addition to imposing bans on transgender athletes and bathroom access, the initiative would have allowed any student to sue their school for a “direct injury” if they discovered another student using a bathroom that did not match their sex assigned at birth. It also would have removed gender-identity protections from the Maine Human Rights Act.
Despite certifying the referendum in March based on the belief that petitioners had collected enough signatures from registered voters, Bellows was accused by social conservatives of using “biased” language and phrasing the ballot question in a way they claimed could lead some voters to reject the measure.
As approved by Bellows, the ballot question would have read: “Do you want to change civil rights and education laws to require public schools to restrict access to bathrooms and sports based on the gender on the child’s original birth certificate and allow students to sue the schools?”
But after Bellows certified the referendum, three Maine residents sued to challenge the validity of the signatures, arguing that the petitions contained “hundreds” of duplicate signatures and “hundreds” of others lacking required date information. They also alleged that some signatures came from unregistered voters or omitted required residence information.
In court filings and at an April hearing in Cumberland County Superior Court, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Bolton argued on behalf of the state that opponents’ claims were legally flawed and that Bellows had been correct in certifying the initiative.
The initiative was reportedly funded by Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, an Illinois-based shipping supply billionaire and Schlitz Brewing heir, who donated $800,000 to “Safeguard Girls Sports,” the ballot question committee behind the measure.
Under Maine law, petitioners seeking to place an initiative on the ballot must collect signatures and personal information from registered voters equal to at least 10% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. For this measure, that meant obtaining valid signatures from 67,682 registered voters.
Initially, the campaign submitted 79,692 signatures. But after hearing arguments and testimony regarding the validity of the signature-gathering process, Superior Court Justice Deborah Cashman ruled that the review had been incomplete and sent the case back to the Secretary of State’s office for further fact-finding, as reported by Erin Reed.
On May 12, the Secretary of State’s Office held an evidentiary hearing at which witnesses, including town clerks and voters whose names appeared on petitions, testified under oath. During the hearing, officials learned of various alleged infractions by petition circulators.
Several circulators allegedly left petition forms unattended at polling places on Election Day. One circulator later testified under oath that she had destroyed any forms she did not personally witness being signed, but that claim was later contradicted by evidence showing that one of the unattended forms had been submitted for signature validation.
Another circulator allegedly submitted forms that appeared to contain outright forgeries. One voter whose name appeared on a petition testified under oath that she had never signed the initiative or even heard of it. After a local clerk flagged additional “suspicious” signatures, a review by the Secretary of State’s Elections Division concluded that all of the validated signatures should have been discarded because they had been signed by someone else.
Based on this new evidence, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Katherine McBrien found that 12,542 signatures submitted by “Protect Girls Sports in Maine” were invalid, according to documents obtained by the Maine Beacon. As a result, the measure fell 532 signatures short of the required threshold, and Bellows ruled that the initiative had failed to qualify for the ballot.
Proponents of the measure have 10 days to appeal. Unless they prevail, the initiative will not appear before voters this election cycle.
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