Maine ballot – Maine’s secretary of state removed a proposed November ballot initiative from consideration after finding that more than 12,000 petition signatures were invalid, leaving the campaign short of the required total.
PORTLAND, Maine — The proposal was supposed to land in front of voters this November. Instead, it’s been pulled from the ballot after Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows ruled that the petition backing it did not clear the state’s signature requirements.
Bellows said Tuesday that her office found more than 12,000 signatures on the referendum petition were invalid. With that reduction. the Protect Girls Sports in Maine initiative is left “a few hundred” short of the 67. 682 signatures required for an initiative to appear on the ballot. according to Bellows.
The initiative. advanced by the parents’ group Protect Girls Sports in Maine. was designed to ask voters whether public schools should restrict transgender students’ participation in sports and access to bathrooms based on the gender listed on a child’s birth certificate. The group had planned for the question to be decided by Maine voters in November.
Bellows, a Democrat running for governor, framed her decision in terms of compliance. She said her staff take the integrity of petitions “just as seriously as we take the security of voting,” adding that anyone seeking to place an initiative on the ballot must follow the law.
The ruling lands amid a broader national fight over transgender participation in school sports and facilities. Maine emerged as an early battleground for the issue last year after a public disagreement between Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who is in her final year of office due to term limits, and President Donald Trump.
Bellows’ office released a recommended decision last week saying the petition “does not meet the constitution threshold” of valid signatures. Leyland Streiff. listed as the principal officer of Protect Girls Sports in Maine. said in a statement that the group was “continuing our defense of the Protect Girls Sports ballot measure.”.
Protect Girls Sports in Maine now has a narrow path forward: petitioners have 10 days to appeal Bellows’ decision. Bellows also said the group would have the ability to try to place the initiative on a future ballot.
Representatives for Protect Girls Sports in Maine did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday, but they had indicated last week they would keep pushing for the initiative to appear on the ballot.
Across the country, similar measures and policies have been adopted through state laws and other statewide actions. At least 19 states have laws banning transgender girls and women from using girls’ and women’s bathrooms in public school settings and. in some cases. other government facilities. private schools or public places. Enforcement of one of those laws in Montana has been put on hold by a court.
For sports, at least 30 states have laws or other statewide policies aimed at keeping transgender girls and women from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, and courts have blocked enforcement of some of the laws.
In Maine. the initiative would have been one of the most prominent ballot fights yet because none of the bathroom or sports restrictions in these states came about through ballot measures. Other Democratic-controlled states—Colorado and Washington—also have sports-related laws on the ballot for November.
The push for restrictions on both bathrooms and sports has grown rapidly over the past five years and has been championed by Trump. Since his return to office last year. he has terminated agreements with school districts to protect transgender students and signed an executive order to limit sports participation by transgender athletes.
Opponents of the Maine measure said Tuesday that they agreed with Bellows’ decision. David Farmer, campaign manager for the Campaign for Free and Fair Schools, which opposed the question, said the petitioners “failed to follow the rules.”
In the end, the November vote will not include this proposal. What remains is the fight over whether the signature dispute can be corrected through an appeal—and whether, on a future ballot, the underlying question will still find enough support to clear Maine’s threshold.
Maine secretary of state Shenna Bellows Protect Girls Sports in Maine transgender sports ballot initiative invalid signatures November ballot bathrooms public schools referendum