AUGUSTA — GOP Gov. Paul LePage says southern Maine and out-of-state money have too much influence on what referendum questions appear on the ballot.
In his weekly address, LePage said he will submit legislation asking lawmakers to amend the state constitutional to require ballot campaigns to gather a proportion of signatures from each county. Right now, about 61,000 signatures are required for a question to appear on the ballot.
LePage has frequently expressed his concern about the constitutionality and economic consequences of five questions on the November ballot. Voters passed marijuana legalization, a minimum wage hike and a 3-percent surtax on income over $200,000 for schools.
LePage said legalizing marijuana violates federal law and claimed millions of dollars and “several legislative fixes” will be required to implement the “poorly drafted” question.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.