PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A Superior Court judge on Thursday upheld a decision by the secretary of state to reject a referendum proposal to create a casino in southern Maine.
Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said the campaign fell short of submitting the necessary 62,123 voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Casino supporters delivered 91,294 total signatures, but only 35,518 were deemed valid.
Dunlap said he was not surprised that Justice Michaela Murphy ruled in his favor, but said he felt bad for people who signed the petitions in good faith.
“You feel bad about these things not being up to par through no fault of the signatories. But the constitutional requirements are what they are,” he said.
In her ruling, Murphy found that the petitioners did not meet the burden of proof.
More than 32,000 signatures were rejected because the signature of the circulator or the notary didn’t match the signature on file with the state.
The same thing happened with a proposal to legalize marijuana, which also was rejected. An appeal of Dunlap’s ruling on that proposal is pending.
At the center of both referendum drives was a company operated by former state Rep. Stavros Mendros. He was one of the notaries in both drives.
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