What's on Maine's 2023 ballot? Question 7, explained
The Maine Constitution currently requires that all people circulating petitions for citizens initiatives and people’s veto initiatives are Maine residents and registered voters. Ballot campaigns have ways around these requirements, but a conservative political action committee challenged them, and a U.S. District Court judge ruled in 2021 that the requirements were a violation of the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. The First Circuit Court later affirmed that ruling.
Question 7 effectively aligns Maine’s Constitution with that decision by eliminating the residency and voter registration restrictions on petition circulators.
Question 7 asks Maine voters: “Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision requiring a circulator of a citizen’s initiative or people’s veto petition to be a resident of Maine and a registered voter in Maine, requirements that have been ruled unconstitutional in federal court?”
Digital news reporter Esta Pratt-Kielley asks political reporter Kevin Miller to explain Question 7 for Maine voters.
Stay tuned for the last video in the series. 🗓️ Election Day is Nov. 7!
Comment below if you have more unanswered questions! And find out more about each question at mainepublic.org/pulse.
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