The Maine Supreme Court ruled Friday to uphold Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ wording of a citizens initiative requiring voters to present some form of identification set to appear on the ballot this November.
The challengers bringing the case had alleged that the wording of the question, as drafted by Secretary Bellows’ Office, was leading and misrepresentative of their proposal’s intent.
While supporters of the petition have argued that its primary purpose is to implement voter ID requirements for casting a ballot in Maine and ought to be characterized as such, others have suggested that the provisions pertaining to absentee voting are also important and need to be addressed in the question presented to Mainers at the polls.
The debate over the question’s need for precision and clarity versus its need for completeness was at the center of last week’s hearing before the Maine Supreme Court.
Led by Dinner Table Action Executive Director Alex Titcomb and Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn), the effort to get a voter ID question on the ballot was said to have been accomplished with minimal funding and hundreds of volunteers.
According to the challengers, Bellows’ wording of the question allegedly “fails to meet the constitutional and statutory standards of clarity, accuracy, and impartiality.”
[RELATED: Maine Supreme Court Reviewing Shenna Bellows’ Wording of Voter ID Referendum Question]
The question set to appear on the ballot this November reads:
“Do you want to change Maine election laws to eliminate two days of absentee voting, prohibit requests for absentee ballots by phone or family members, end ongoing absentee voter status for seniors and people with disabilities, ban prepaid postage on absentee ballot return envelopes, limit the number of drop boxes, require voters to show certain photo ID before voting, and make other changes to our elections?”
Challengers have said that this is the longest ballot question in Maine’s history, found to be 30 percent longer than the text of any past initiative.
Under the law up for consideration on this November’s ballot, voters would be required to present a valid photo ID, such as a Maine driver’s license, U.S. passport, or military ID, when casting their ballots in person.
To minimize financial barriers, the legislation requires the state to issue free nondriver identification cards to eligible residents without a Maine driver’s license.
Voters without photo identification would be able to cast a challenged or provisional ballot with the caveat that they must provide proper ID within four days post-election for their vote to be counted.
This bill also aims to change Maine’s election laws with respect to absentee voting, including by rolling back certain provisions and by implementing new regulations.
For example, voters would be barred from requesting absentee ballots over the phone, something that is currently permissible under state law.
It also seeks to repeal the statute allowing voters to automatically receive absentee ballots for each election without needed to submit separate requests.
Additionally, municipalities would be prevented from having more than one absentee ballot drop box within their jurisdiction, and a “bipartisan team of election officials” would be required to possess keys to the drop box.
Click Here to Read the Full Text of the Citizens Initiative
In breaking down the reasoning behind their decision, the Court rejected the challengers’ assertion that the question is misleading for suggesting that doing away with ongoing absentee voter status would “target seniors and people with disabilities.”
Although the current law, which will still be in effect when voters go to the polls in November, only applies to seniors and the disabled, it will quickly be expanded to include all Mainers at the end of the year.
For this reason, the Court found that the Bellows wording was not misleading, as it accurately reflects the law as it will stand on election day.
The Court goes on to explain that “a ballot question is fatally misleading only if a voter would be led to vote contrary to the voter’s intent,” which they don’t believe would be true in this case.
[RELATED: Civic Group Challenges Shenna Bellows in Court Over Wording of Voter ID Referendum Question]
Challengers also raised concerns that bill’s titular voter ID provision was relegated to the end of the ballot question.
On this front, the Court determined that it can reasonably be assumed voters will read the question in full, disagreeing with the challengers’ assertion that “the Secretary’s ordering of the accurate summaries of the proposed amendments makes the question not understandable.”
The historic length of the ballot question was also a key concern raised by the challengers in their lawsuit.
While the Court acknowledges that “the question is certainly longer than many other questions placed on the ballot in Maine,” the length “does not render the question incomprehensible or misleading,” particularly given the “many disparate provisions in the proposed legislation.”
“Because we conclude that the Secretary’s question ‘is understandable to a reasonable voter reading the question for the first time and will not mislead a reasonable voter who understands the proposed legislation into voting contrary to that voter’s wishes,’ we affirm the [lower court’s] judgment,” the Maine Supreme Court stated.
As a result of this decision, the voter ID referendum question will appear on Mainers’ ballots this November as it is currently drafted by the Secretary of State’s Office.
