A letter published in response to coverage of a transgender ballot question has prompted a call for stricter verification procedures on petition signatures in Maine. The writer, referencing an April 23 article about a referendum on transgender sports participation, highlighted that nearly 8,000 of 82,000 submitted signatures were invalidated by state officials—approximately one in ten signatures rejected for various reasons.
The letter proposes new legislation, which the writer dubs the "PICTURE Act"—the Proof of Identity Confirmed Through Unnecessarily Ridiculous Examination Act. Under the proposed measure, petition signers would be required to present valid photo identification or a passport containing an address, signature, and blood type before affixing their name to a petition.
According to the proposal, petition gatherers would be responsible for collecting copies or photographs of identification documents and submitting them to state or local clerks for verification. The letter suggests this safeguard would address what the writer characterizes as a process "rife with error" in the current petition signature collection system.
The timing of the letter coincides with ongoing congressional debate over the SAVE Act, which the writer notes targets what he describes as a minuscule percentage of voter fraud. The letter draws a comparison between efforts to prevent electoral fraud at the ballot box and the validation problems encountered with petition signatures, arguing that similar scrutiny should apply to both processes.
The letter was submitted by William Brink of Sanford.
