AUGUSTA — Organizers of a people’s veto campaign to restore Maine’s Election Day voter registration said Monday they’ve collected more signatures than needed to get a statewide referendum asking voters to overturn a new law that requires registration at least two business days before an election.

The Protect Maine Votes coalition said it delivered to the Secretary of State’s office 68,064 voters’ signatures, more than the 57,277 minimum that have to be submitted by a Tuesday afternoon deadline to get the question on the November ballot. The coalition, comprising 18 organizations and activist groups, plans to turn in additional signatures Tuesday.

All the signatures collected so far have been validated by town clerks, coalition leaders said. The Secretary of State’s office has 30 days to review the petitions and decide whether to place the question on the ballot in November.

Signature gathering started July 7 and involved more than 1,000 volunteers, who collected names in every state Senate and House district in the state, said Ben Chin, the coalition’s field director. If the group fails to meet the required number, it would have until Sept. 27 to turn in more signatures to qualify for a referendum in June 2012.

The coalition maintains that same-day registration promotes voter participation and democracy.

“Nothing should prevent eligible citizens from voting,” Barbara McDade, president of the League of Women Voters of Maine, told a news conference of cheering supporters in the State House. McDade said same-day registration was likely the biggest factor in putting Maine consistently among the states with the highest voter participation.

The coalition hopes to persuade voters to reject a law passed last spring by the Legislature, which replaces Maine’s four-decade policy of allowing voters to sign up on the day of the election. The new law eliminates registration of new voters on Election Day and during the two business days before the election.

Supporters of the new law said that if the issue goes to a referendum, voters will see during the campaign that adding a two-day registration requirement is a common sense improvement. They argue the new law will reduce election fraud.

“There is no support from the average person” for repealing the new law, said Charles Webster, chair of the Maine Republican Party. “There’s no doubt in my mind that when voters find out more about this, they’ll agree with us.”

The issue is politically charged. In July, Webster said he’d uncovered more than 200 cases of possible election fraud involving nonresident students in the state university system who had also registered to vote in Maine last year. Webster believes such abuses are more likely to occur with same-day registrations.

No campaign has been organized to counter the people’s veto effort. Webster said the state GOP committee will take up the matter in the weeks ahead and a decision will be made whether to build a coalition to oppose the effort.

The new law takes effect Sept. 28 but will be suspended, pending the outcome of the election.

Seven states besides Maine — Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming — also allow registration on Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Two other states, Ohio and North Carolina, permit same-day registration on special early-voting days before the regular election, NCSL said.

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