Alex Titcomb, co-founder of The Dinner Table PAC, speaks at a press conference before delivering petition signatures to the Department of the Maine Secretary of State on Jan. 6, 2025. (Photo by AnnMarie Hilton/ Maine Morning Star)
The Star-Spangled Banner rang through the halls of the State House Monday afternoon as volunteers from the Voter ID for ME campaign sang as they carried more than a dozen boxes full of petition signatures to the Maine Secretary of State’s office.
“Requiring an ID to vote is not radical,” said state Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) at a press conference. Alternately, she said such rules are common sense.
In April, The Dinner Table PAC — founded by Libby and activist Alex Titcomb in 2021 with a mission to create a conservative majority in the Maine House of Representatives — launched the campaign to require voters to show photo identification at the polls. However, the petition submitted Monday would make changes to additional aspects of Maine election law, such as absentee voting.
Critics of the effort fear the proposals would lower voter turnout in a state known for strong democratic participation.
Over 600 volunteers with the campaign gathered more than 170,000 signatures from all 16 counties, Titcomb said. That is well above the 67,682 signatures needed to get on the November 2025 ballot (per the state’s requirement of having 10% of the total votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election). Those signatures will now be certified by the Maine Department of the Secretary of State.
The effort is in line with a national push from Republicans to require identification at the polls. They argue it will decrease the risk of fraud and increase confidence in the election result. However, opponents have pushed back saying it fosters anti-immigrant sentiment and feeds an unfounded fear of widespread voter fraud.
About two-thirds of states already require identification at the polls, but Maine does not.
Previous attempts to implement such a requirement in Maine have been unsuccessful, including a 2023 bill sponsored by former state Sen. Matt Pouliot (R-Kennebec) that was ultimately rejected by Democratic leadership.
Bellows says unsubstantiated noncitizen voting claims ‘lay groundwork to challenge results’
“How many times does the Legislature need to hear the will of the people before they act?” Libby said. She added that more than 170,000 signatures isn’t “just a few people coming to a public hearing or whispering from various corners of Maine, that is a thunderous roar.”
That’s why Titcomb and Libby want to take this issue directly to the voters by having it appear as a citizen’s initiative on the upcoming November ballot.
The Secretary of State’s Office has 30 days to certify the signatures; however, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said the five-page petition submitted to her office is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Bellows has historically opposed proposals requiring voters to show certain documents to cast ballots, but she previously told Maine Morning Star that her office “will always administer the constitutionally protected citizen’s initiative process fairly.”
Maine voters are already required to show proof of identification and residency when they register to vote. Bellows has said that requiring documentation at the polls can create long lines and confusing logistics.
In addition to including language to require identification at the time of voting, Bellows explained that it also changes other aspects of Maine elections including absentee voting and the process to challenge a ballot. And because it is a citizen’s initiative, Bellows said the text of the petition has to go to voters as is. It can’t be amended before appearing on the ballot.
Though Bellows said “reasonable people can agree to disagree” on the policy of showing identification at the time of voting, she is concerned by the other aspects of the proposal.
Titcomb described those additional changes as “minor” and said they are designed to increase trust in elections.
Bellows argued the petition would politicize the election process. Currently, municipal clerks — which is not a partisan position — are responsible for collecting the content of absentee ballot drop boxes. The petition seeks to change that to a “bipartisan team of election officials.” Details on how those teams would be decided and formed are not outlined in the petition.
Bellows also said the proposal would make absentee voting harder, such as by repealing the provision allowing immediate family members to drop off ballots for each other. It also wants to roll back ongoing absentee voting, which allows voters to have absentee ballots mailed to them automatically for each election cycle. This option was implemented last February for voters over the age of 65 who self-identify as having a disability.
Citizen campaign for voter ID law sets sights on 2025 ballot
Additionally, the petition would remove the option for municipalities to get approval for multiple ballot drop boxes, instead requiring them to only have one.
The petition also seeks to change the process for challenging someone’s right to vote. Under current law, it is up to a challenger to prove that someone doesn’t have the right to vote in a certain election. Challenged voters may still cast a ballot, but it is marked as being challenged so that it can be reviewed in the event of a close race. The petition wants to shift the burden of proof onto the person who is being challenged, Bellows explained.
Bellows did, however, say she supports the part of the petition that seeks to provide Mainers with free nondriver identification cards.
The League of Women Voters of Maine is also opposed to the citizens’ initiative, saying it would be a highly restrictive voter suppression referendum.
“It’s disappointing to see Mainers try to impose these barriers on their fellow Mainers’ right to vote, when this state is justly proud of its high voter participation rates,” said Executive Director Anna Kellar in a statement last week. “These restrictions can and will harm every type of voter.”
Specifically, the League says the photo ID requirement would disenfranchise elderly, poor, disabled and rural voters across Maine. It also opposes rolling back the ongoing absentee voting option for older Mainers.
At the press conference Monday, Libby said that tying a requirement to show identification at the polls to voter suppression is “an empty scare tactic.”
“Requiring an ID to vote is no different than requiring an ID to drive a car, to board a plane or to buy a bottle of wine,” she said.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.