Maine's highest court hears arguments to determine future of anti-transgender ballot initiative

Maine’s highest court weighed Wednesday whether the state can reject petition signatures collected by out-of-state circulators who did not check a box consenting to Maine’s jurisdiction, a legal dispute that could determine whether Mainers vote on transgender inclusion in sports this November.

The group called “Protect Girls Sports” initially submitted enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, proposing an initiative that would restrict what school sports teams, bathrooms and facilities trans students can access. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows later determined that the campaign had failed to qualify, after thousands of signatures were invalidated. That ruling was upheld by a Superior Court judge in June and the campaign appealed that decision to the Supreme Judicial Court.

More than 1,500 of the invalidated signatures were collected by four out-of-state circulators who had not checked a box on the form agreeing to Maine’s jurisdiction. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court must now decide whether those signatures were properly invalidated. The initiative is short 500 signatures to qualify.

The Maine Constitution prohibits out-of-state circulators from submitting petitions, but that ban was declared unenforceable by a federal appeals court in 2022, since it likely violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In response to a lawsuit, Maine then entered into a consent agreement, which all citizen-led initiatives still rely on to hire out-of-state circulators to collect signatures. However, they must consent to the state’s jurisdiction.




https://mainemorningstar.com/2026/07/01/maines-highest-court-hears-arguments-to-determine-future-of-anti-transgender-ballot-initiative/