Title 21-A, Title 21-A

The municipality shall pay reasonable expenses for the storage and maintenance of the devices as authorized by the clerk.

The clerk must hold a meeting before an election whenever it is necessary to instruct election officials in the operation of voting devices. [PL 1985, c. 161, §6 (NEW).] 1. Permission to use devices refused. The clerk may not permit a voting device to be used at any voting place …

The Secretary of State shall furnish all ballot materials for all elections conducted under this Title. Ballots furnished for use with electronic tabulating systems must be arranged as nearly as practicable in accordance with the requirements for candidate ballots under section 6…

The municipal officers shall arrange each voting place in compliance with section 627.

The warden at each voting place may not remain or allow any other person to remain where the warden or person can see how anyone votes, except that a proper official may remain when the official's assistance has been requested by a voter.

The municipal clerk shall perform the following duties in preparing for an election. [PL 1985, c. 161, §6 (NEW).] 1. Ballots and supplies. The municipal clerk shall have the electronic tabulating devices prepared for the election and shall deliver the tabulating devices, voting b…

The following governs the procedure for the conduct of elections in which an electronic tabulating system is used. [PL 1995, c. 459, §104 (AMD).] 1. Preparation for voting. Before the polls are opened, the election officials shall arrive at the voting place and place the voting d…

The clerk shall have the electronic tabulating equipment tested prior to the polls opening to ascertain that it accurately counts the votes cast for all offices and on all measures. The test must be conducted by processing a preaudited group of ballots marked to record a predeter…

Copies of the election results must be open to the public as soon as the count is completed. The warden shall prepare the official return pursuant to section 711. The official return of each voting district is derived from the totals from the official tally tape, the totals from …

If for any reason it becomes impracticable to count all or a part of the ballots with electronic tabulating equipment, the clerk shall have them counted manually following the provisions governing the counting of paper ballots.

The procedure for processing absentee ballots for use with electronic voting systems is the same as for processing absentee ballots as provided in section 759. [PL 1995, c. 459, §110 (NEW).] 1. Warden to review notes of clerk. 2. Accepted if correct. 3. Rejected if incorrect. 4. …

1. Tampering with voting device. Before, during or after an election, a person may not intentionally or knowingly: A. Tamper with or injure a voting device, ballot or other record or equipment used in the election or interfere with the correct operation of such a device or equipm…

The provisions of this Title which are not inconsistent with this Article apply to all elections where an electronic voting system is used.

To initiate proceedings for a people's veto referendum or the direct initiative of legislation, provided in the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Sections 17 and 18, a voter shall submit a written application to the Department of the Secretary of State on a form desi…

The following provisions apply to direct initiatives of legislation under the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 18. [PL 2005, c. 356, §1 (NEW).] 1. Opportunity to read direct initiative summary. A person circulating a petition must provide the voter the oppor…

The verification and certification of the petition as required by the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 20 must be worded so that a single verification or certification may cover one or more pages fastened together as a single petition. [PL 2017, c. 277, §4 (…

If the registrar or clerk suspects that a petition was submitted in violation of any provision of this chapter, the registrar or clerk shall immediately notify the Secretary of State and provide a copy of the petition to the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State shall prepare instructions to inform the clerk and the signer or circulator of a petition of the statutory and constitutional requirements. The instructions must specify the conditions that have been held to invalidate either individual signatures or comple…

A circulator of a petition solicits signatures for the petition by presenting the petition to the voter, asking the voter to sign the petition and personally witnessing the voter affixing the voter's signature to the petition. The circulator of the petition must comply with the p…

A petition organization shall register with the Secretary of State in accordance with this section. For the purposes of this section, "petition organization" means a business entity that receives compensation for organizing, supervising or managing the circulation of petitions fo…

1. Certain notaries public and others. A notary public or other person authorized by law to administer oaths or affirmations generally is not authorized to administer an oath or affirmation to the circulator of a petition under section 902 if the notary public or other generally …

A person commits a Class E crime if that person: [PL 2007, c. 455, §53 (RPR).] 1. False swearing; signature. Circulates an initiative or referendum petition and swears that a signature is that of a person whose name it purports to be when the circulator knows that the signature i…

A circulator of an initiative or a referendum petition or a person who causes the circulation of an initiative or referendum petition may not pay or offer to pay any compensation to a person for the person's signature on the initiative or referendum petition.

1. Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall review all petitions filed in the Department of the Secretary of State for a people's veto referendum under the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 17, or for a direct initiative under the Constitution of Main…

No later than 15 business days after the Secretary of State issues a written decision under section 905, subsection 1 finding a petition for a direct initiative to be valid, the Secretary of State shall give public notice of a proposed ballot question for that initiative by posti…

The Secretary of State shall prepare the ballots for referendum questions according to the following provisions, subject to the authority contained in section 604‑A. [PL 1987, c. 188, §16 (AMD).] 1. Referendum questions on separate ballot. 1-A. Referendum questions on same ballot…

A petition for direct initiative of legislation under the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 18 that is determined valid by the Secretary of State pursuant to section 905, subsection 1 and is submitted to the Legislature in accordance with the procedure establ…

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. [PL 1985, c. 161, §6 (NEW).] 1. Commission. "Commission" means the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices established under Title 1, section 1002. 1…

1. Meeting schedule. The commission shall meet in Augusta for the purposes of this chapter at least once per month in any year in which primary and general elections are held. In the 28 days preceding an election, the commission shall meet in Augusta within 2 business days of the…

1. Investigations. The commission may undertake audits and investigations to determine whether a person has violated this chapter, chapter 14 or the rules of the commission. For this purpose, the commission may subpoena witnesses and records whether located within or without the …

The violation of any of the following subsections is a Class E crime. [PL 1985, c. 161, §6 (NEW).] 1. Contributions and expenditures. A person, candidate, treasurer, political committee or political action committee may not knowingly make or accept any contribution or make any ex…

The commission may assess the following penalties in addition to the other monetary sanctions authorized in this chapter. [PL 2003, c. 628, Pt. A, §1 (NEW).] 1. Late campaign finance report. A person that files a late campaign finance report containing no contributions or expendi…

The commission staff shall collect the full amount of any penalty and the return of Maine Clean Election Act funds required by the commission to be returned for a violation of the statutes or rules administered by the commission and has all necessary powers to carry out these dut…

Notwithstanding any maximum penalty otherwise set forth in this chapter, when assessing a penalty or monetary sanction, the commission may double the authorized penalty or monetary sanction for a violation occurring less than 28 days prior to an election day and may triple the au…

Information concerning contributors contained in campaign finance reports filed by candidates, political action committees, party committees and ballot question committees may not be used for any commercial purpose, including, but not limited to, the sales and marketing of produc…

A party committee, political action committee or ballot question committee registered under this chapter that conducts a game night pursuant to Title 17, section 1832, subsection 2‑B shall report to the commission all proceeds from the game night in a manner prescribed by rule by…

A public communication is considered placed or promoted for a fee when a payment is made to a website, digital device, application or advertising platform in order to increase the circulation, prominence or availability of the public communication on that website, digital device,…

This subchapter applies to candidates for all state and county offices and to campaigns for their nomination and election. Candidates for municipal office as described in Title 30‑A, section 2502, subsection 1 are also governed by this subchapter. The commission does not have jur…

As used in this subchapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. [PL 1985, c. 161, §6 (NEW).] 1. Clearly identified. "Clearly identified," with respect to a candidate, means that: A. The name of the candidate appears; [PL 1985, …

1. Candidates, their treasurers and political committees. A candidate shall register the candidate's name and the name of a treasurer with the commission at least once in each legislative biennium, as provided in this section. A candidate may have only one treasurer, who must be …

A candidate may remove any treasurer that the candidate has appointed. In case of a vacancy in the position of treasurer of a candidate or treasurer of a political committee before the obligations of the treasurer have been performed, the candidate shall serve as treasurer from t…

1. Authorized by candidate. Whenever a person makes an expenditure to finance a public communication expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, the public communication, if authorized by a candidate, a candidate's authorized political committee…

1. Push poll defined. For purposes of this section, "push poll" means any paid telephone survey or series of telephone surveys that are similar in nature that reference a candidate or group of candidates other than in a basic preference question, and when: A. A list or directory …

1. Contributions by individuals. An individual may not make contributions to a candidate in support of the candidacy of one person aggregating more than $1,950 in any election for a gubernatorial candidate, more than $475 for a legislative candidate, more than $575 for a candidat…

Contributions made by a for-profit or a nonprofit corporation including a parent, subsidiary, branch, division, department or local unit of a corporation, and contributions made by a political committee or political action committee whose contribution or expenditure activities ar…

If an individual receives funds, goods or services for the purpose of deciding whether to become a candidate, the funds, goods or services may not exceed the limitations in section 1015, subsections 1 and 2‑B. The individual shall keep an account of such funds, goods or services …