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Maine Automatic Voter Registration Referendum (2019)
| Maine Automatic Voter Registration Referendum | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2019 | |
| Topic Elections and campaigns | |
| Status Proposed | |
| Type Referendum | Origin Citizens |
The Maine Automatic Voter Registration Referendum may appear on the ballot in Maine as a veto referendum on November 5, 2019, or the first statewide election in 2020, depending on when signatures are submitted and verified. A 2019 Maine bill was designed to establish a 2020 presidential primary election for the state on March 3. The success of a currently pending veto referendum petition targeting the March primary date law will determine whether the election date for this measure is March 3 or June 9.[1]
The veto referendum would overturn Legislative Document 1463 (2019), which was designed to enact automatic voter registration for eligible persons who applied for a driver's license or nondriver identification card from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.[2]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title would be as follows:[3]
| “ |
Do you want to reject the new law that allows the use of information provided on an application for a driver’s license or state identification card to automatically register eligible citizens to vote?[4] |
” |
Full text
The full text of Legislative Document 1463 (LD 1463) is available here.
Path to the ballot
Process in Maine
In Maine, the number of signatures required to qualify a veto referendum for the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Signatures are due 90 days after the adjournment of the legislative session at which the targeted bill was passed.
The requirements to get a veto referendum certified for the 2019 ballot:
- Signatures: 63,067 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was September 18, 2019.[5]
If enough signatures are verified, the targeted bill goes on the next election ballot at least 60 days away as a referendum.
Stages of this initiative
Jack McCarthy filed the veto referendum after the 2019 legislative session adjourned on June 20, 2019. The veto referendum was approved for signature gathering on July 19, 2019.[3]
See also
External links
Legislation
Footnotes
- ↑ Centralmaine.com, "Confusion – more than usual – reigns over people’s veto votes in Maine," August 12, 2019
- ↑ Maine Secretary of State, "Legislative Document 1463," accessed July 19, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Maine Secretary of State, "Citizens Initiatives & People's Veto," accessed July 24, 2019
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ If signatures are submitted before the 90-day deadline but less than 60 days from the November 2019 election, the referendum would appear at the next statewide election instead.
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State of Maine Augusta (capital) |
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