Maine lawmakers are considering some measures aimed at tightening the state's voter initiative process.
The Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee is hearing testimony today on three measures: LD 1690 would require an electronic list of certified signatures and give potential challengers more time to look them over; LD 1692 would require petition drive organizers to let people know the amount and source of money required to implement the initiative; and LD 1730 would hike penalties for fraud.
Some signatures gathered in recent drives have turned out to be bogus. Joel Foster, of the Washington, D.C.-based Ballot Initiatives Strategy Center favors restrictions on the process contained in several of the bills. He says Maine did not fare well in a national survey of states that permit citizen-initiated petitions.
"Maine got a 'D' in the report we released, so, frankly, not great," he says. "But most states don't do very well either, and we think this bill is a moderate step forward in improving the system in Maine."
House Majority Whip Seth Berry, a Bowdoinham Democrat, is the chief sponsor of one of the petition reform bills, LD 1690, which also allows voters to retract their signatures from petitions if they're obtained under false pretenses or on the basis of erroneous information.
"Any person collecting a signature can say whatever they want -- that's freedom of speech," Berry says. "But, by the same token, I should have the right to associate myself with your effort, or to disassociate myself with your effort, if I find out later that you've deceived me. So the same rights that apply to the petitioner should apply to the signators."