With little time left, two of five Maine initiatives have signatures filed
January 20, 2011
By Al Ortiz
AUGUSTA, Maine: January 20 marks the end of the circulation period for initiative petitions in the state of Maine, as groups must turn in their signatures to the Maine Secretary of State's office by the end of the business day. However, as of 4 p.m. EST on that date, only two of the five initiative efforts circulating petitions have filed their signatures with the Secretary of State's office, according to the state elections division. As previously reported on Ballotpedia, the effort behind the establishment of a slot machine facility was the first to turn in signatures days before the deadline. The second group to turn in signatures did so on January 19, 2011, which was the group behind the initiative to allow for a racino in Washington County.
The five measures include a proposal to allow medical marijuana in the state, a total repeal of prohibition on marijuana in the state, a question regarding the establishment of a slot machine facility, a proposal dealing with political campaign promises and a measure that would allow for another tribal racino in Washington County.
All five measures are indirect initiated state statutes. This means, in order to place the measure on the 2011 ballot a minimum of 58,054 valid signatures are required to be turned in. If the required amount of signatures have been verified by the Secretary of State, the measure will go to the state legislature for review. If legislators don't vote to adopt a similar law, it will remain on the November 2011 ballot.
See also
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- Maine 2011 ballot measures
- 2011 ballot measures
- Laws governing the initiative process in Maine
- Ballot initiatives filed for the 2011 ballot
- Ballot initiative
Additional reading
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