Robert F. Kennedy Jr Sues Maine Secretary of State for Revoking Permission to Petition at the Polls on March 5

On February 21, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sued the Maine Secretary of State for revoking permission for his petitioners to work at the polls on March 5, when Maine holds its presidential primary. Team Kennedy v Bellows, 1:24cv-52. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock, Bush Jr appointee.

Maine traditionally allows petitioners at the polls, and as recently as November 2023, allowed presidential primary candidates to petition at the polls. Furthermore, the Kennedy petitioners had earlier been told they could petition at the polls.


Comments

Robert F. Kennedy Jr Sues Maine Secretary of State for Revoking Permission to Petition at the Polls on March 5 — 18 Comments

  1. WHAT????? Petition circulators have been able to gather petition signatures INSIDE polling places in Maine for years. I did it there in 2010, and I know people have done this in Maine as recently as 2022, and probably in 2023 if they had any odd year election, but in 2022 for sure because I know people who did it.

    One does NOT need permission to gather signatures inside polling places in Maine, it is a RIGHT. Nobody asked for permission to do it when I was there.

  2. Bellows’ justification (see News Center Maine article):

    “When a candidate’s office is not on the ballot, they can absolutely collect signatures… There’s a statewide election in June. Certainly, Mr. Kennedy can collect signatures then. It’s important to recognize that it’s when a candidate’s office is on the ballot, that they cannot collect signatures because, for good reason, Maine law prohibits political activities that influence a voter”

  3. RFK Jr. is running as an independent. He is not running in a primary. This election is to see who will be the presidential nominee for a party having a primary. Since RFK Jr. is running as an independent that has no bearing on him.

  4. When I gathered petition petition signatures inside a polling place in Maine in 2010 I had a table set up in an area people walked by AFTER they had voted at a polling booth, so I did not even speak to anyone before they voted, but if I had it would have been irrelevant to that election since I was gathering signatures to place an initiative on the ballot for the next election.

  5. Q, thanks for asking. My #1 fantasy right now is a 3 sum with me, Shenna Bellows and Jena Griswold on a North Korean flag. Then Kim Jong Un and his sister show up and make it a party!

  6. ***RIGHT***–

    CONST — MORE DIFFICULT TO REPEAL
    STATUTORY — EASY REPEALED
    COMMON LAW — SUPER-EASY REPEALED

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.