Democrats in Maine have long blocked Democratic candidates ‘ attempts to secure the state’s primaries through frequently supported measures like voter ID requirements. The goal of Pine Tree State conservatives, which includes enshrining such measures into law, may then come true thanks to the efforts of one small group.
Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced last week that supporters of the proposed” Maine Require Voter Photo Identification Initiative” had gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the country’s November 2025 vote. The Maine Legislature will now have the option of passing the legislation into law or having it sent to voters for thought.
The team behind the program is gearing up to launch a nationwide activity to ensure its passing this November, with the latter situation all but particular given Democrats ‘ power of the legislative body. The Voter ID for ME plan, a venture of the Maine-based Dinner Tables PAC, is attempting to increase Maine to the growing list of states that demand photo identification for votes.
This is about “ensuring and strengthening potential elections”, Dinner Table PAC Co-Founder Alex Titcomb told The Federalist.
Journey to the Poll
According to local media, the Voter ID for ME campaign “delivered 4, 410 petition forms with an estimated 171, 562 signatures of voters to the]state’s ] Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions” for review last month — far exceeding the minimum requirement of 67, 682 valid signatures to qualify for this year’s ballot. Of the first 2, 430 petition forms primarily assessed by Bellows, 86, 904 names, or 92.3 percentage, were found to get “valid”.
Titcomb attributed the numbers to Voter ID for ME’s roughly 800 crew people, whose grassroots activism enabled the initiative’s eligibility for poll access.
Since its launch in April of this year, activists have largely collected signatures near polling locations in Maine during the June primary and the November general elections. According to The Portland Press Herald, protesters are permitted to obtain signatures for requests outside the election place in Maine as long as there is enough room for them and they don’t try to sway citizens.
Voter ID for ME volunteers also engaged in “more traditional” signature collection efforts, such as going door-to-door and posting up at local businesses such as coffee shops. Additionally, they traveled to their neighborhood dumps, which Titcomb noted “are pretty popular places in Maine to collect signatures.”
Voter ID for ME spent less than$ 25, 000 on its signature collection efforts, according to Titcomb.
As previously indicated, GOP-led legislative efforts to adopt voter ID in Maine have been met with resistance from Democrats, who currently maintain trifecta control of state government. Pine Tree State Democrats frequently refute baseless leftist claims that these laws” suppress” voters and” create barriers” to voting in order to justify their opposition to such a commonsense measure.
” Show me the data … where it shows that it harms people and makes it more difficult]to vote ]”, Titcomb said. ” The data that we’ve seen in the states that have recently implemented voter ID requirements, participation actually increases”.
The Initiative
However, requiring eligible voters to provide an acceptable form of photo ID for in-person and mail-in voting is only one of the changes proposed under the initiative.
The measure would require that a “bipartisan team of election officials” be given control of the keys to these devices and be sent to and approved by voters, limit the number of ballot drop boxes to one per locality. As The Federalist’s Matt Kittle , reported,” Unmanned absentee ballot boxes have sparked myriad election integrity concerns, including a , high-profile scandal , in a Connecticut election”.
Additionally, the initiative would require eligible voters to “apply in writing to the registrar of the municipality,” either in person or by mail, in order to receive an absentee ballot. A photocopy of the voter’s photo ID or the number would be required to be attached to their state driver’s license or “nondriver identification card” for those who opt for this approach.
The initiative’s absentee ballot changes, according to Ballotpedia, “would remove a provision]from state law ] where voters can request an absentee ballot by phone, as well as a provision where voters can automatically receive absentee ballots for each election without making a separate request for each election.”
Titcomb said the initiative’s provisions governing drop box maintenance and absentee voting rules are designed to add “more security” around the process given the “personal identifiable information” voters would be required to disclose under the measure’s photo ID requirement.
” Those]absentee ballot ] envelopes are going to have more sensitive information of the voter]such as a] photo of them, their birthday, ]and ] their address”, Titcomb said.
Additionally, the legislation changes the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot from three business days before an election to seven days.
The Road to November
The organization is pulling out all the stops to get the measure across the finish line, according to Titcomb, given that the Maine Legislature is likely to vote on the Voter ID for ME initiative in November.
The Dinner Table PAC co-founder said the group’s campaign strategy will have a “grassroots flavor”, with an emphasis on getting “right-of-center” Mainers comfortable “voting in off-year elections”. ” If they do that this year”, Titcomb argued,” then they’re more likely to do that next year”.
In campaigning for the initiative, Voter ID for ME volunteers will undertake traditional get-out-the-vote operations, such as door-knocking, phone banking, mass text campaigns, and digital marketing. The group wants to raise$ 2 million to support its efforts, with the hope of using campaign funds for television ads if it can pass the$ 1 million fundraising milestone, according to Titcomb.
The Dinner Table co-founder added that Voter ID for ME is also open to working with other like-minded grassroots organizations” to help us win” in November.
However, conservatives might not find the voter ID initiative’s approval process as straightforward as they might like.
Titcomb said he wouldn’t put it past Maine Democrats to try and put a competing measure on the November ballot to create confusion among the electorate despite being optimistic about the measure’s chances of passing. He noted that a scenario like this would call for voter identification and for ME to spend resources “educating the voters” about which ballot initiative supports voter ID.
He also cited concerns about a potential ballot-in-the-red flag initiative and the potential impact it might have on turning out left-wing voters who may oppose election measures like voter ID.
The anti-gun movement will appeal to the far left of their demographics in favor of the anti-gun law, according to Titcomb. ” We haven’t done official polling yet ,]but ] we’re waiting to see how]the red flag measure ] would influence our]campaign ] process with that certain segment of demographics ]and ] see … how those folks would vote on voter ID”.
Shawn Fleetwood is a University of Mary Washington graduate and a staff writer for The Federalist. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
