Citizens in Charge

A lawsuit filed Tuesday to knock a people’s veto referendum off of the June 2010 ballot relies on a complete misunderstanding of settled petition law. According to the Portland Press Herald:

“John Paterson of Bernstein Shur in Portland, the attorney representing Johnson, said a review shows Dunlap should have thrown out “an extensive number” of other signatures, including entire pages circulated by people who were not registered Maine voters.”

Unfortunately for the attorney, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Meyer v. Grant in 1988 that states can’t require petition circulators to be registered voters. While Maine does have a requirement that petition circulators be registered to vote, that law is unconstitutional. The attorney in this lawsuit is asking the court to violate the first amendment rights of over a thousand Maine voters.

Mary Adams is the Citizens in Charge Foundation Maine Citizen State Coordinator.