Maine Question 1, 2016

Background

The passage of ballot measures in Colorado and Washington in 2012 which legalize marijuana has led to efforts across the United States to do so. The use of marijuana for medical purposes has been legal in Maine since 1999. Attempts by the Maine Legislature to legalize recreational marijuana have not succeeded, including one effort to put the question directly onto the ballot. Some success in legalization has been seen at the local level, with Portland legalizing recreational use in 2013 by a wide margin. It has also been legalized in South Portland but a legalization effort in Lewiston failed.

Petitions for two separate groups to collect signatures to place a ballot measure on the 2016 ballot were issued by the Maine Secretary of State's Office, one on April 28, 2015 to a group called Legalize Maine, and another on June 3, 2016 to the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is affiliated with the Marijuana Policy Project. The two proposals were similar but Legalize Maine's was more permissible, legalizing up to 2.5 oz. for use by those 21 and older, as opposed to only 1 oz. under the MPP's proposal. It also called for a 10 percent tax on marijuana. Legalize Maine promoted their proposal as "home grown". The two groups agreed to combine their efforts on October 26, 2015 and coalesce behind Legalize Maine's proposal, so that there would only be one legalization effort. An effort by State Rep. Mark Dion (D-Portland) to pass a bill legalizing marijuana failed on June 22, 2015, largely because legislators did not want to undercut the petition gathering effort. Dion had felt that the Legislature should get out in front on this issue to avoid having to fix a poorly written referendum proposal later.

Supporters of legalization turned in 99,929 signatures to Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap on February 1, 2016. A small group protested those delivering the signatures outside the Secretary's Office, objecting to out of state groups being involved in the legalization effort.

Status of petitions

Dunlap announced on March 2, 2016 that the petition gathering effort had failed and the issue did not qualify for the ballot. He stated that his office could only validate 51,543 signatures, well below the 61,123 required to get to the ballot. 13,525 signatures were rejected as not belonging to registered Maine voters, and a smaller number was rejected for various other errors. The largest number of signatures rejected, 31,338, was due to signatures of a notary public and petition circulators who signed the oaths on the petitions not matching those on file with the Secretary of State's Office. Dunlap stated that "We’re not saying any malfeasance was or wasn’t done, that’s not up to us to determine. Our goal isn’t to invalidate signatures. The goal is to make sure they are valid." Supporters immediately announced that they would appeal the decision to Maine Superior Court, stating that "we sincerely hope that 17,000-plus Maine citizens will not be disenfranchised due to a handwriting technicality."

One of the notaries in question, Stavros Mendros, publicly stated that he had signed the petitions but that given the sheer volume of papers he had to sign in a short amount of time, which he claimed was almost 15,000 papers, it would be almost impossible for him to write his signature exactly the same each time. The Portland Press Herald obtained copies of petitions and sent them to independent handwriting experts who stated that in their opinion the signatures were all within natural variations in handwriting and were likely from the same person. Supporters also criticized Dunlap's office for not using handwriting experts or discussing their concerns with supporters to validate the signatures.

Judge Michaela Murphy ruled on April 8, 2016 that the rejected petitions should be reinstated for consideration. In her opinion, Murphy stated that Dunlap had committed an error of law by applying an "overly burdensome" interpretation of the law. Murphy explained that signatures gathering and oath administration are often done under less than ideal conditions and that requiring perfect signature reproduction on each form signed was unreasonable. Dunlap announced on April 13 that he had declined to appeal the decision and would begin re-reviewing the previously rejected petitions.

Dunlap announced on April 27 that about 11,000 previously invalidated signatures were found to be valid, which meant that the referendum qualified for the ballot. The proposal went to the Legislature for consideration, but they declined to approve it and sent it to the ballot. The question will appear on the ballot as "Do you want to allow the possession and use of marijuana under state law by persons who are at least 21 years of age, and allow the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale of marijuana and marijuana products subject to state regulation, taxation and local ordinance?"

Campaign

Maine Attorney General Janet Mills has expressed concern that the law as written would legalize marijuana use for all ages, calling the language of the bill "troublesome".

Supporters

Opponents

Recount

On 5 December 2016 the state of Maine called for an official recount of the ballots regarding Question 1, a process expected to take a month or more and cost up to $500,000. The International Business Times reported that governor Paul LePage said:

... he would be taking up the issue with president-elect Donald Trump to find out if the incoming administration would enforce federal laws prohibiting legal marijuana use. However, if Trump decides to keep cannabis laws at the state level, LePage said he would accept the law.

By December 16, around 30% of all ballots cast had been recounted, including those from Maine's largest city of Portland without any notable change in the results. The recount was ordered suspended until after January 1, and the No on 1 campaign filled out the requisite paperwork to formally cancel the recount one day later.