Maine’s transgender – Maine’s proposed ballot measure backed by Protect Girls Sports in Maine was removed from the November ballot after the secretary of state ruled that more than 12,000 petition signatures were invalid, leaving the drive short of the 67,682 required. The decision
PORTLAND, Maine — The secretary of state’s office moved quickly Tuesday, cutting off a fight that had been headed to November voting.
Maine’s proposed referendum. backed by the parents’ group Protect Girls Sports in Maine. was removed from the ballot because invalid signatures failed to clear the threshold required for the initiative. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows ruled that her staff found more than 12. 000 signatures on the petition were invalid. leaving the campaign a few hundred short of 67. 682 signatures needed for the measure to appear before voters.
The initiative was scheduled to go to voters in November. It would have asked Maine voters whether public schools should be required to restrict access to bathrooms and sports based on the gender denoted on a child’s birth certificate.
Bellows, a Democrat running for governor, framed the ruling as a matter of rules and ballot integrity. “We take the integrity of the petitions just as seriously as we take the security of voting. It’s really important that anyone seeking to place a initiative on the ballot follow the law,” she said Tuesday.
The decision dealt another blow to a nationwide effort that has increasingly targeted transgender students’ participation in sports. Maine had become a visible battleground for the issue last year, after a public disagreement between Democratic Gov. Janet Mills—who is serving her final year due to term limits—and President Donald Trump.
Under the ruling, the petitioners have 10 days to appeal. Protect Girls Sports in Maine did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. but the group said last week it would continue pushing for the initiative to appear on the ballot. Bellows said the group could also try to get the initiative on a future ballot.
The secretary of state’s office had released a recommended decision last week saying the petition “does not meet the constitution threshold” of valid signatures. Leyland Streiff. 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.”.
For many advocates and opponents, the Maine ruling sits inside a wider map of state action. At least 19 states have laws banning transgender girls and women from using girls’ and women’s bathrooms at public school. and in some cases other government facilities. private schools or public places. Enforcement of one such law in Montana has been put on hold by a court.
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. Courts have blocked enforcement of some of those measures.
Maine’s proposed measure was different in one key respect: the restrictions on bathrooms and sports in other states were not created through ballot measures. Instead, two Democratic-controlled states—Colorado and Washington—have sports-related laws on the ballot for November.
Across the country, the restrictions have been adopted over the past five years and have been championed by Trump. After his return to office last year. he 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 ballot initiative welcomed Bellows’ decision. David Farmer, the campaign manager for the Campaign for Free and Fair Schools, said the petitioners “failed to follow the rules.”
For Protect Girls Sports in Maine, the path now runs through an appeal and the possibility of a future ballot—while Maine voters, at least for November, will not get the chance to weigh the proposal directly.
Maine secretary of state Shenna Bellows Protect Girls Sports in Maine transgender sports petition signatures referendum November ballot bathrooms Janet Mills appeal