Deputy Secretary of State will recommend invalidating anti-trans ballot referendum

This story will be updated.

Mainers may no longer be voting this November on a ballot question to restrict the rights of transgender students to access bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams aligning with their gender identity. 

That’s because a state official determined that petitioners did not collect enough valid signatures, falling 500 short of the minimum required threshold to qualify for a citizen-led ballot initiative. Chief Deputy Secretary of State Katherine McBrien, who presided over a hearing last week to determine signature validity, is recommending to the Maine Secretary of State’s Office that more than 12,000 signatures that may have been collected improperly be invalidated, the office confirmed on Thursday.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows will issue a final decision next Tuesday.

Validity of 330 signatures could determine future of trans sports initiative

The ballot initiative seeks to require sports teams and school facilities to be separated by biological sex as opposed to gender identity, at odds with the Maine Human Rights Act.

The campaign’s signature gathering practices were cast into doubt when three challengers claimed that 7,900 signatures previously deemed valid by the Secretary of State’s Office should be disqualified in Superior Court. On April 24, Justice Deborah Cashman remanded the challenge to the Secretary of State’s Office for a final determination. Last week, McBrien and Assistant Attorney General Jon Bolton held an hourslong hearing during which both sides presented their arguments. 

Over the course of the hearing, a pattern of negligence within the campaign emerged, with signature collectors admitting to leaving forms unattended, among other infractions.

McBrien sent her determination to attorneys representing the “Protect Girls Sports” campaign and opponents that 67,150 signatures were valid and 12,542 invalid.

The number of signatures required to place the petition question on the November ballot is 67,682. The parties have until Saturday at midnight to respond.