Maine and several other New England states still require petitioning candidates to submit their completed petitions to various town clerks around the state. Then, after the town clerks have finished checking the petitions, the candidate or political party supporting that candidate must collect the petitions and deliver them to the Secretary of State.
This cumbersome procedure ought to be obsolete in every state, because federal legislation for some years has required each state elections office to have its own list of all registered voters in the state.
This year, in Maine, an independent gubernatorial candidate, Alex Hammer, collected almost 6,000 signatures toward the requirement of 4,000. To save time, money, and energy, he put the petitions he had collected from certain towns on his web page, using high resolution techniques for the scan (300dpi). He then asked these particular town clerks to check the signatures by examining the images.
However, the Secretary of State ruled that this method of delivery is not permitted, so Hammer is off the ballot, even though he is virtually certain to have enough valid signatures. Using the old-fashioned system of delivering signatures in person, he already has been notified that he has 3,200 valid signatures, and there are still 1,400 unchecked signatures. He expects to file a lawsuit to reverse the Secretary of State’s decision.
The idiot process applies to ALL petitioning candidates — statewide and non-statewide ???
Separate is NOT equal — even in ME.
Brown v. Bd of Ed 1954
Yes, Dems, Reps and Greens have to collect a certain number- less than 4K – only from registered members of their party and do the same town by town checking. Indy candidates can get any registered voters signature but a higher threshold.
“because federal legislation for some years has required each state elections office to have its own list of all registered voters in the state.” Including signature images on their central computer. Otherwise we end up with dozens of handwriting “experts” of varied degrees of training in each county clerk office validating or invalidating signatures at their individual discretion.