HARPSWELL (AP) – Backers and opponents of a liquefied natural gas terminal are circulating petitions asking residents to support their positions.

Less than two months have passed since voters on March 9 rejected a proposal that would have allowed ConocoPhillips and TransCanada to build a $350 million LNG terminal and pipeline project in town. The bitter campaign left Harpswell sharply divided.

The Yes! For Harpswell’s Future group this week mailed hundreds of letters and petitions to homeowners seeking support in asking the Board of Selectmen to schedule another election on the proposal. Supporters say they have collected 1,100 signatures toward a goal of 2,000.

The petition says threats of violence on election day created anxiety and uncertainty that tainted the election and turned voters away.

A bomb threat was called in the day of the vote, and bomb-detection dogs and officers searched the polling place at Harpswell Island School and checked voters for weapons.

“The healing process isn’t going to take place until we have the chance to have a fair vote,” said Deborah Levensailor, a member of Yes! For Harpswell’s Future.

Fair Play for Harpswell, a group that opposes an LNG terminal, has collected about 1,200 signatures of residents opposed to a a second vote.

Spokesman Chris Duval said Fair Play will present its petition to selectmen when Yes! For Harpswell’s Future presents its petition. Duval criticized LNG supporters for the mailing so soon after the previous election.

“It’s tiresome and it just needs to end. All this does is further divide the town,” Duval said. “I have faith that our selectmen will do the right thing.”

Voters rejected the project by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent.

After the defeat, project supporters started circulating a petition in an effort to force a second vote. The group conducted a low-key campaign until this week’s mailing.

Jack Sylvester, spokesman for Yes! For Harpswell’s Future, said his group hopes to collect enough signatures to persuade ConocoPhillips and TransCanada to reconsider Harpswell as a possible site for an LNG terminal.

The companies were offering to pay the town more than $8 million a year in lease fees and taxes in return for being able to use 70 acres at the former Navy fuel depot on Route 123 for an LNG terminal and underwater pipeline.

Yes! For Harpswell’s Future plans to present its petition to selectmen by the end of May, Sylvester said. If the three-member board agrees to hold another vote, the election probably would not take place until late summer at the earliest.

“My view, and I think (other selectmen) are in agreement, is that the people have the right to circulate a petition,” said Selectman Gordon Weil. “If and when we receive their petition, we’ll make a decision at that time.”