Press Herald - After failing to qualify for the upcoming November ballot, the group behind a proposed referendum to limit transgender students’ rights in sports says it has enough signatures qualify for the 2027 election. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows initially certified the 2026 citizens’ initiative, filed by the group Protect Girls Sports, but later met a legal challenge over the validity of its signatures.
Bellows agreed with the lawsuit — which claimed that out-of-state signature collectors broke several state rules during the name collection process — and rejected thousands of signatures during a review, leaving the group 500 short of qualification. The case worked its way up the state court system until the Maine Supreme Judicial Court determined in July that Bellows had been right to invalidate the signatures. That decision meant the referendum would not appear on this year’s ballot.
Maine Morning Star - More than 290,000 Mainers have
already cast their ballot in races that will determine the balance of power in
the Maine Legislature and U.S. Congress, as well as who will occupy the Blaine
House for the next four years.
The candidates are making their final appeals in what has become the most expensive
election in Maine history. In addition to record spending in the U.S. Senate
race between Susan Collins and Troy Jackson, we have seen outside groups
pour millions of dollars into local legislative races.
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