Well, there's a problem. The Supplemental Budget is missing funding for two of our key bills that are still sitting on the Appropriations Table. The first bill is LD 231, which would establish semi-open primaries and increase voter participation. The second bill is LD 1155, bringing true and secure post-election audits to Maine.
We've championed both bills, and you can too by sending a quick message to your legislators — ask them to support and fund these bipartisan bills. We've made it easy to take action: lwvme.org/TakeAction.
Mixed Feelings Monday: Senator Susan Collins recently wrote an op-ed about a rickety law, the Electoral Count Act. It's great to see the Senator argue for reforming the ECA, but it won't replace the urgent need for national voting rights reform. All voters should be able to vote safely and freely anywhere in the country. That's essential to saving our democracy.
Check Yes for Clean Elections: When you are filling out your Maine tax forms, you can check a box to designate $3 to the Maine Clean Election Fund. This helps to finance the election campaigns of qualifying Clean Election candidates. The Clean Election check-off is on Line 1 of the Maine Income Tax form. It will NOT increase your tax bill, and it will NOT decrease your refund. Learn more here.
Most of our key bills for 2022 have already received their public hearings, most have even had their work sessions. Here's the update on our top priorities:
ERA Fails to Advance (LD 344): With heavy hearts, we report that the Equal Rights Constitutional Amendment failed to achieve 2/3rds of the vote in the Maine House. The federal ERA first passed in the 1970s by the U.S. Congress, but it was not ratified. Fifty years is a long time to wait to affirm equal gender rights. This bill would have brought the ERA to Maine. It waits final action, but it's as good as dead.
Municipal Ranked Choice Voting (LD 859): This bill would allow towns to adopt RCV for municipal elections. It received a divided report in the State and Local Government (SLG) Committee. - Money in politics — Municipal Campaign Finance (LD 1658): Bill requires candidates or PACs in towns with populations over 50,000 to submit campaign finance reports to the Ethics Commission instead of the municipal clerk. It received a divided report in the SLG Committee.
- An Act To Protect Election Integrity (LD 1779): This bill will protect ballots after an election by ensuring they remain in the custody of our trusted election officials. It's an important backstop against actions that undermine election security by disrupting the chain of custody, as we have seen in Arizona and Colorado. It received a divided report in the Veterans and Legal Affairs (VLA) Committee.
Interfering with an Election Official could be a Class C Crime (LD 1821): This bill would make it a Class C crime (a felony) to intentionally interfere with a public official performing an official function relating to a federal, state, or municipal election. The amended version that is advancing would keep these Class D crimes (misdemeanors), but it would allow the State’s Attorney General to investigate. It received unanimous support in the VLA.
Happy Birthday to Us ❤️
It was a big week. On February 14, we celebrated our 102nd birthday. We were founded on February 14, 1920, after the 19th amendment was ratified and women won the right to vote. It's been a good run so far — fighting for democracy reform and voting rights and informing and educating voters. But we're far from finished.
Check out these birthday messages sent to the League:
We asked our League community to support the Wabanaki Alliance's call for testimony on LD 1626. Overall, allies surpassed their goal with over 1,600 written testimonies submitted! Our League people contributed over 200 supportive letters.
Kim Wyman from the federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency joined a call to talk about election security and trust in elections. And now that we know misinformation isn't going away on social media, ReThink Media led a workshop on fighting the Big Lie. If you missed these events, recordings are archived here.
