ME: Independent likely to File Lawsuit over Electronic Signatures

From Ballot Access News:

Maine and several other New England states still require petitioning candidates to submit their completed petitions to various town clerks around the state. Then, after the town clerks have finished checking the petitions, the candidate or political party supporting that candidate must collect the petitions and deliver them to the Secretary of State.

This cumbersome procedure ought to be obsolete in every state, because federal legislation for some years has required each state elections office to have its own list of all registered voters in the state.

This year, in Maine, an independent gubernatorial candidate, Alex Hammer, collected almost 6,000 signatures toward the requirement of 4,000. To save time, money, and energy, he put the petitions he had collected from certain towns on his web page, using high resolution techniques for the scan (300dpi). He then asked these particular town clerks to check the signatures by examining the images.

However, the Secretary of State ruled that this method of delivery is not permitted, so Hammer is off the ballot, even though he is virtually certain to have enough valid signatures. Using the old-fashioned system of delivering signatures in person, he already has been notified that he has 3,200 valid signatures, and there are still 1,400 unchecked signatures. He expects to file a lawsuit to reverse the Secretary of State’s decision.