A Maine lawmaker has been indicted on charges that he forged signatures and made a false statement on campaign finance forms last year.

Rep. Randall Hall, R-Wilton Maine Legislature photo

An Oxford County grand jury on Wednesday indicted Rep. Randall Hall, R-Wilton, on 12 charges including 10 counts of aggravated forgery, unsworn falsification and criminal violation of the Maine Clean Elections Act.

According to the indictment, Hall forged signatures on 10 qualifying contribution affirmation forms, which are the forms that must be filled out by donors who give qualifying contributions to a candidate for state office so they can get clean elections funding from the state.

He is also accused of making a false statement on a different form on which he asserted that the signatures were in fact those of the people they purported to be.

Both actions are a violation of the Maine Clean Elections Act, the indictment said.

House Speaker Ryan Fecteau has asked Hall to resign, Fecteau’s spokesperson, Victoria Foley, said Thursday night.

Hall did not respond to a phone message or email seeking comment on the charges.

The Maine Clean Elections Act is a voluntary program for candidates for state office to receive public financing for their campaigns. To become eligible, candidates must demonstrate baseline support by collecting a minimum number of $5 qualifying contributions and documenting those contributions with forms signed by the contributors.

After a candidate receives the clean elections funds, he or she cannot accept private contributions, and almost all goods and services obtained by the candidate must be paid for with clean elections money.

Hall, who is in his fourth consecutive term as a state representative, qualified for the funding in 2018, 2020 and 2022.

During his 2024 reelection campaign, he applied again for the public campaign funding and was required to collect 60 $5 qualifying contributions from voters in his district.

Staff at the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, which oversees the program, denied Hall’s application after noticing irregularities in the signatures of contributors, said Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the commission, in an email.

Wayne said his office referred the matter to the Office of the Attorney General for further investigation and was unaware Hall had been indicted until contacted by the media about it Thursday.

About 200 candidates for the Maine Legislature participate in the clean elections program each year. The commission closely examines the qualifying papers of all candidates as well as all expenditures reported by clean elections candidates, Wayne said.

In addition, about 20% of legislative candidates are audited by an outside auditor.

Wayne said the commission finds very few cases of fraud or misuse of public funds in the clean elections program and that when staff do discover cases of serious misconduct, they are referred to the attorney general’s office.

Earlier this week, the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee voted 7-6 in favor of a bill that would remove the signature requirement for donors who pay in cash.

State Sen. Rick Bennett, who sponsored the bill, said he has participated in the clean election program in his last three elections, and gathering signatures for the additional form can be a hassle.

“I care deeply about the integrity of this program but think there must be a better way to ensure the signatures match than requiring people to sign twice,” Bennett said in his written testimony. He said the last time he sent out donation solicitation, “at least half of the returned forms had a mistake that had to be rectified.”