Legislators’ bills would increase petition regulation
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Bangor Daily News: Two Democratic state legislators want to place stricter rules on the gathering of signatures on petitions that send ballot questions to voters.
State Rep. Seth Berry of Bowdoinham and Sen. John Nutting of Leeds said their experiences with petitions, such as the made-up signatures in Greene, justify more regulation.
Their bills will be heard in a public committee hearing on Feb. 8 at the State House.
Republicans, professional signature gatherers and successful petitioners say the system works well now and that Democrats have a hidden agenda — to make it harder for voters to overrule the Democrat-controlled Legislature.
Charles Webster, chairman of the state Republican Party, said voters need a way to overrule the Legislature because legislators like Berry are “out of touch with what the people want, what the working people want.”
Berry, House majority whip, says the current system creates an “incentive to lie and cheat” and believes his bill will strengthen the citizen initiative process by increasing transparency and accountability.
Berry’s bill requires the secretary of state “to make electronic lists of certified signatures” from petitions; doubles the time a person has to examine petitions from five to 10 days; and allows signers who change their minds to ask to withdraw their names from the petition.
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