Maine Petition is Under Attack Because Notaries Public Who Certified Petition Sheets Got Married and Didn’t Change Their Names in State Records
November 30th, 2009In the United States, it seems there is almost an infinity of reasons why petitions can be challenged. States that require petition sheets to be notarized open the doors for additional types of challenges. Determined challengers may realize that the petition itself has enough signatures of registered voters, so then the challengers try to find something wrong with the paperwork involving notarization.
A group in Maine recently submitted 56,107 valid signatures, to force a referendum on a tax overhaul that the legislature passed earlier this year. Opponents of the referendum petition say that it should not be on the ballot, because at least two of the notaries public who notarized certain sheets got married, and didn’t ever notify the state office that keeps tabs on notaries that their surnames had changed. Because the Secretary of State certified the petition anyway, one challenger sued the Secretary of State to remove the referendum. The lawsuit is Johnson v Dunlap, Kennebec Superior Court, AP 09-56. The case will probably be decided by January 1, 2010.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
The EVIL Donkey / Elephant party hacks in the various minority rule gerrymander legislative bodies and the special interest gangs want NO opposition to their EVIL laws.
The regimes are now taxing / borrowing / spending about 40 percent of the GDP — for the benefit mainly of such special interest gangs.
P.R. and nonpartisan A.V.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
“States that require petition sheets to be notarized open the doors for additional types of challenges. Determined challengers may realize that the petition itself has enough signatures of registered voters, so then the challengers try to find something wrong with the paperwork involving notarization.”
This is one good reason why requirements to notarize petition sheets should be eliminated. There are already plenty of states that do NOT require petition sheets to be notarized and they get by just fine. Notarization requirements are just another unnecessary hoop to jump through and a complete waste of time and resources.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
what is the tax overhaul that was implemented by the state legislator?
November 30th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
A woman who marries is not required to take her husband’s surname. This is just convention. So the challenge should be thrown out on that basis.
November 30th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
#4 — Depends on the LAW in the area involved.
November 30th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
The tax law passed by the Maine legislature lowers income tax and raises sales tax.
December 1st, 2009 at 6:38 am
Richard,
The tax flattens the tax- raising the lowest brackets up to 6.5% and lowering taxes for the uppermost brackets (from a top of 8.5% to 6.75%). It also primarily expands the sales tax rather than raises is.
Both the Green and Republican parties opposed this measure (albeit for different reasons i think) and collected signatures for the same drive.