2016 Maine Question 1

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." [15] 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."[15][16]

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.[17]

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.[18][19] Dunlap announced on April 13 that he had declined to appeal the decision and would begin re-reviewing the previously rejected petitions.[20]

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.[6][11] 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?"[21]

• ACLU of Maine[23]
• Marijuana Policy Project
• Eric Brakey, Republican State Senator[23]
• Mark Dion, State Representative (D-Portland), former Cumberland County Sheriff[23]
• David Miramant, Democratic State Senator[23]
• Diane Russell, State Representative (D-Portland)[23]
• Ryan Fecteau, State Representative (D-Biddeford)[23]
• Brian Hubbell, State Representative (D-Bar Harbor)[23]
• Larry Dunphy, State Representative (I-Embden)[23]
• Matt Moonen, State Representative (D-Portland)[23]
• Deane Rykerson, State Representative (D-Kittery)[23]
• Scott Hamman, State Representative (D-South Portland)[23]
• Peter Stucky, State Representative (D-Portland)[23]
• MaineToday Media newspapers; Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel[24]

• American Automobile Association[25]
• Paul LePage, Governor of Maine[26]
• Walt Whitcomb, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture[27]
• Smart Approaches to Marijuana[6]
• Maine Public Health Association[28]
• Maine Hospital Association[28]
• Maine Medical Association[28]
• Maine Association of School Nurses[28]
• Maine State Chamber of Commerce[28]
• Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services, Maine[28]
• National Alliance on Mental Illness Maine[28]
• Maine Chiefs of Police Association[28]
• Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce[28]
• Maine State Police[28]
• Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention[28]
• Cumberland County Sheriffs Office[28]
• Yarmouth Police Department[28]
• Cumberland Police Department[28]
• Concerned Women for America of Maine[28]
• Falmouth Police Department[28]
• Christian Civic League of Maine[28]
• Dixfield Police Department[28]
• Bangor Daily News[29]
• Ellsworth American[30]