Maine transgender sports referendum poised to fall off the 2026 ballot
By Michael Shepherd, Bangor Daily News Staff
A draft decision released by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ office Thursday found the conservative referendum aiming to bar transgender girls from school sports fell roughly 500 signatures short of the total needed to make the 2026 ballot.
Chief Deputy Secretary of State Kate McBrien issued the recommended decision following a hearing earlier this month, concluding that more than 12,000 signatures from registered Maine voters were invalid. The two sides have until Saturday to file objections. Bellows, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, must make a final ruling by Tuesday.
She looks poised to derail a Republican-led referendum effort on a culture-war issue that dominated Maine politics last year after a sharp White House exchange between Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump and subsequent battles over federal funding to the state.
Bellows’ office approved the referendum effort for the ballot in March. But it was clear by April that the initiative was in trouble after the Democrat made a series of concessions during a court challenge by Mainers aligned with LGBTQ-rights groups fighting the initiative. A judge ordered the secretary of state’s office to hold hearings on the signatures.
That revealed misconduct by petition circulators. Two circulators repeatedly left petition forms unattended at polling places on Election Day 2025, allowing voters to sign without a witness present, violating both Maine law and the circulators’ sworn oaths, according to McBrien’s ruling. All signatures they collected that day were recommended for invalidation.
More than 1,400 signatures that would have otherwise been valid were also tossed because a circulator failed to legally consent to Maine’s jurisdiction for potential investigations, according to McBrien. Additionally, all 61 signatures gathered by one woman were invalidated after a review found none of them matched voters’ signatures on file. At least one appeared to be forged.
The referendum, which would ban transgender girls from female scholastic sports teams as well as private spaces that align with their gender identities, was largely funded by Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, an Illinois billionaire who gave $800,000 to the effort in October.
The question looked likely to pass following a poll last year that found 64% of Mainers opposed to transgender female athletes in women’s sports, a finding that mirrored national figures. A similar measure passed the Maine House of Representatives last year after four Democrats voted with Republicans. It was defeated in the Senate.
Those bad omens led opponents of the law, who formed under a coalition led by the LGBTQ-rights EqualityMaine and Maine Women’s Lobby, to fight hard against the signature-gathering effort to prevent it from going to the ballot.
“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,” David Farmer, the coalition’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the group advocating for the question said it is reviewing the decision and preparing objections. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ben Midgley issued a statement criticizing Bellows for the move.
“Maine people should be given the opportunity to vote on this common-sense measure that protects Maine girls,” he said.