During a hearing at the Maine State House earlier this month, the secretary of state’s office heard testimony from an unlikely source: a man calling in from an unnamed cargo ship somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. 

He was joining remotely to answer questions about his work collecting signatures for the “Protect Girls Sports in Maine” citizen initiative, which petitioners are trying to get on the ballot this November. 

“That was a first,” said Tim Woodcock, a Bangor-based attorney representing the committee attempting to get the referendum on the ballot, when asked about the transcontinental call. 

The witness involved, a man from Georgia, was being questioned about his time in Maine several months prior when he collected signatures for the aspiring ballot question, which would restrict participation in school sports and access to bathrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex. He and several other out-of-state petition circulators have been at the heart of a challenge to the potential referendum, with opponents arguing that alleged deficiencies in the collection process should have signatures thrown out and the proposed ballot question invalidated. 

It is increasingly looking like those opponents might get their way. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows sided with challengers to invalidate the referendum petition after her staff recommended that several thousand signatures be tossed out due to various insufficiencies. Bellows had previously approved the referendum’s place on the ballot but was ordered by a Maine Superior Court judge to reassess the validity of signatures after three Maine residents appealed her initial determination.

The additional review included a hearing conducted by her staff that featured new evidence and interviews with several of the petition circulators, including the man now traversing the Pacific Ocean — just one small example of how this Maine referendum has reached far beyond the state’s borders. 

More than 100 people came from out of state to gather signatures for the ballot question effort, a Maine Monitor analysis found. Outside money, lawyers and attention have also poured in, making Maine’s referendum process a bureaucratic battleground in the national debate over transgender rights and girls’ sports. 

National interests

Maine has been a flashpoint in the national furor surrounding this issue since early last year, when Gov. Janet Mills clashed with President Donald Trump over the state’s current approach under the Maine Human Rights Act to allow transgender students to participate in school sports in a way that matches their gender identity. 

The girls’ sports referendum effort has featured out-of-state fingerprints from its infancy. Almost all of the funding supporting the push so far has flowed from a single midwestern billionaire. State campaign finance data shows that Richard Uihlein, a major conservative donor, gave $800,000 to support the ballot question in October 2025. 

The national involvement hasn’t stopped there. When three Mainers filed a challenge to the signature validity in court, they did so with the help of a juggernaut election law firm, the Elias Law Group, that is aligned with national Democrats and headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Representatives from the Elias Law Group did not respond to three emails in the past two weeks asking how they became involved in this case or who is funding their work on it.

The out-of-state money and legal expertise aren’t the only forces beyond Maine that worked their way to the forefront of this referendum debate. The involvement of out-of-state petition circulators — who in many cases were paid to collect signatures — has also become a major factor in the legal wrangling over signature validity. 

Technically, Maine law and the state’s Constitution prohibit out-of-state petition circulators. But this ban has essentially been rendered unenforceable by the courts.

In 2022 a federal appeals court found that the state’s requirement that petition circulators be Maine voters likely violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The state then entered into a consent order with a group wanting to use out-of-state circulators for its petition effort. That agreement, still in use today for all Maine citizen initiatives, opened the door to out-of-state circulators as long as they consent to the state’s legal authority should an investigation or prosecution arise. 

Four years later, out-of-state circulators were not just allowed to be part of the “Protect Girls Sports in Maine” signature-gathering effort. They became a significant part of it. 

A Maine Monitor analysis of the forms that signature gatherers must sign, promising that they followed the rules, found that nearly 40 percent of the girls’ sports initiative circulators were from out of state. Of the around 320 oath forms The Monitor obtained from the secretary of state’s office, approximately 120 of the circulators listed their residence as somewhere outside of Maine, including from as far away as California, Arizona and Florida.

Kyle Bailey, a former Democratic state lawmaker who has been the campaign manager of three separate successful referendum efforts relating to ranked-choice voting and foreign election spending, said it’s “extremely important” that any referendum push be driven by Maine residents rather than people from coming out of state.

“Maine people should be asking Maine people to put issues on the ballot. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be enthusiastic supporters from other states or even some supplemental paid signature collectors who come from other states to support the effort,” Bailey said. “But if your effort is not of Maine people, for Maine people, by Maine people, then I think it’s problematic — politically, as well as ethically. And I think Maine people will see through that.”

Bellows’ ruling

Much of the legal challenge has focused on how these out-of-state circulators went about gathering signatures from Mainers, and whether they submitted and signed forms properly.

On the required oath form, circulators are directed to check one of two boxes: one saying they were a resident of the state of Maine while circulating the petition, or another acknowledging that they were not a Maine resident at the time but agreed to consent to the state’s jurisdiction in the case of any subsequent investigation or prosecution. 

Three out-of-state circulators never checked the box saying they would consent to Maine jurisdiction, and one didn’t do so until long after the petition had already been submitted for review. The legal team for the referendum backers have raised a question about when or whether the secretary of state’s office can require out-of-state circulators to check this box at all, and, while Bellows and her staff did not accept that argument, it could prove to be a focal point in any forthcoming court action.

Circulators must also swear they personally observed all of the signatures they collected from Maine voters. With the “Protect Girls Sports in Maine” initiative, challengers alleged that some circulators left petition forms unattended. Witness testimony and evidence, including photos and brief videos, convinced Bellows and her staff that two of the out-of-state petition circulators did not witness all of the signatures they gathered at polling places during the most recent general election on Nov. 4, 2025. Much of that testimony came from members of left-leaning groups who were present at the polls that day. 

Kate McBrien, the chief deputy and chief of staff in the secretary of state’s office, oversaw the administrative hearing earlier in May and recommended that Bellows toss out the roughly 800 signatures these two circulators gathered last Election Day. Bellows agreed and accepted McBrien’s recommendation to invalidate several thousand more signatures for reasons such as duplicate voters, issues with dates and crossed out signatures, and incomplete forms. 

In order to get on the Maine ballot, a citizen initiative needs to get signatures from at least 10 percent of the total number of voters in the previous election for governor. Right now, that means the ballot initiative committee needs 67,682 valid signatures. While Bellows’ initial decision in March found 71,033 to be valid, the revised total after review is down to 67,150 — approximately 500 short of the threshold. 

“Citizen initiatives are direct democracy. Just as we take voting security seriously, we take petition integrity seriously,” Bellows said in a press release when announcing her decision on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, some out-of-state circulators failed to meet certain legal requirements for petitions, resulting in this initiative failing to qualify for the ballot after legal review. I am proud of the hard work and dedication of the Secretary of State staff who work so hard to safeguard our elections for the benefit of every Maine voter.” 

It is a Class E crime in Maine for a petition circulator to swear that a signature was made in their presence when it was not. At a press conference on Tuesday, Bellows said she couldn’t speak to whether she expects any criminal referrals. 

Bellows and her staff did not find evidence to support all of the challenges brought against the signature-gathering process, including those lodged against the circulator who testified from a boat in the Pacific. And her decision will not be the final word on the issue. As provided in Maine law, there’s a specific process for appeals in both Maine Superior Court and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. 

Reaction to the ruling

The referendum’s proponents have indicated they will turn to the judicial process next. 

“The Committee is working to ensure full judicial review of the Secretary’s decision with the understanding that the courts, not the Secretary, should have the final word on this important matter,” the ballot initiative committee said in a statement issued by Woodcock, its attorney.

Several Republican candidates for governor have blasted the ruling. Some have criticized Bellows for overseeing the process while running in the Democratic primary for governor.

Maine GOP Chairman Jim Deyermond alleged that Bellows “has a bad habit of abusing her power as Secretary of State for her own political agenda” and encouraged Mainers to vote for a Republican-led Legislature in November’s general election. In Maine, the secretary of state is chosen by the Legislature rather than being elected directly by voters or appointed by the governor. 

The Maine Monitor asked Bellows at the Tuesday press conference if she had considered recusing herself from the decision-making process.

“My decision is grounded in the evidence that was presented and reviewed by the hearing, and the neutral hearing officer issued recommendations grounded in the evidence and the laws of the state of Maine,” Bellows responded. “It is my duty to uphold the law and the Constitution, and that’s what I did.”

The Monitor also asked Bellows what, if any, safeguards she and her office have put in place to make sure there is separation between her political campaign and official role. She did not provide specifics but said she would continue doing her job according to the law. 

“It’s not a surprise that many opponents want me to step down as secretary of state,” Bellows said Tuesday. “But I haven’t backed down, even under threat and harassment, and I am not backing down now from doing my job, and following the law and the Constitution.” 

She had previously said she received threats after her 2023 decision to remove Trump from the Maine ballot due to his actions leading up to and during the attack at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020, a decision she eventually reversed after the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in. 

“Nothing that is occurring outside of the office of secretary of state entered into this decision, nor will it,” she added about her ruling this week to invalidate the petition signatures. 

Several previous Maine secretaries of state from both parties have stayed in the role while campaigning for political office. But the practice has become a political flashpoint in Maine and around the country when state election officials oversee an election while simultaneously running for higher office. 

During an interview earlier in the month, Woodcock said he wasn’t concerned with Bellows’ involvement in the process while also running for governor.

“She’s the constitutional officer. She’s the one who’s been invested with this authority, and I think everyone in the public would expect her to fulfill her constitutional duties,” he said.

Among those happy with Bellows’ decision this week is the Campaign for Free and Fair Schools, a committee organized to oppose the proposed ballot initiative. 

“Maine has strict rules in place to protect the integrity of our elections and our system of direct democracy,” campaign manager David Farmer said in a statement on Tuesday. “The paid, out-of-state signature gathers and the billionaire who paid to try to put this question on the ballot failed to follow the rules.” 

Though Farmer works at Portland-based law firm Bernstein Shur, which has provided local counsel to the referendum petition challengers alongside the Elias Law Group, he emphasized that he is not a lawyer and is not involved in the legal proceedings. 

What happens next 

It was the Maine Superior Court that sent the signatures back to Bellows for further review. Now that she has issued her ruling to invalidate the referendum petition, her updated decision appears guaranteed to go back before the court for consideration. 

As Bellows explained at the Tuesday press conference, the Maine courts can do one of three things: accept her ruling and invalidate the petition for the November 2026 election, reject her ruling and put the question on the ballot, or send it back to her again for further review. 

Depending on what the lower court rules, either the “Protect Girls Sports in Maine” committee or petition challengers will have a three-day window after that ruling to appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. 

With a razor-thin margin of roughly 500 signatures hanging in the balance, and the possibility of some nuanced constitutional arguments in court, it remains to be seen whether this question will wind up on the ballot in November.

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.