A Superior Court justice on Friday affirmed the language of a statewide referendum question that would require photo identification to vote.
A group campaigning to require photo identification while voting had sued the secretary of state over the wording of the question.
“I take seriously my constitutional responsibility to write referendum questions as clearly and understandably as possible,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said in a statement Friday afternoon. “I’m pleased that the Superior Court ruled that the ballot question regarding changes to Maine election laws met the standards set forth in Maine law.”
The proposal to require photo identification from voters at Maine polling places and adopt other voting restrictions qualified for this November’s ballot in February.
The ballot question reads: “Do you want to change Maine election laws to eliminate two days of absentee voting, prohibit requests for absentee ballots by phone or family members, end ongoing absentee voter status for seniors and people with disabilities, ban prepaid postage on absentee ballot return envelopes, limit the number of drop boxes, require voters to show certain photo ID before voting, and make other changes to our elections?”
Bellows and other opponents of the referendum have criticized advocates for promoting the measure only as a voter ID mandate when it would also make it harder to vote absentee and make other changes to election laws that officials say would be difficult and expensive to implement.
Supporters of the referendum, Voter ID for ME, claimed in a statement last month that the wording misrepresents their proposal, saying it “buries the core intent” and that “it fails to meet the constitutional and statutory standards of clarity, accuracy, and impartiality.”
Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, who is helping lead the campaign to require voter ID in Maine, said she is disappointed in the outcome.
“But, we’re also confident that Mainers are going to support this common sense measure, despite Secretary of State Bellows’ best efforts to confuse the issue,” Libby said in a phone call Friday.
She said the campaign is “still considering future options.”
“The vast majority of Mainers do support voter ID across party lines,” Libby said. “We are looking forward to becoming the 37th state with voter ID as law in November.”
The court concluded “that the question as formulated by the secretary is understandable and not misleading.”
The ruling rejects the petitioners’ claims that the question is too difficult for voters to understand due to technical language, specifically the term “ongoing absentee voter status,” and is vague in regard to the term “make other changes to our elections.”
The decision found that the language “does not render the question not understandable” and states that “no ballot question could practically identify every one of the twenty-seven changes to Maine’s election laws proposed by the initiative, nor is the secretary required to formulate a question that does so.”
Other terms that the petitioners claimed were vague were also deemed not to compromise a voter’s ability to understand them.
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