Superior Court puts an end to City Officials’ Attempts to Silence the Voices of Their Own Residents

PORTLAND, MAINE – The Cumberland County Superior Court has issued a temporary restraining order against City of Portland officials who attempted to silence their own voters.

Officials within the City of Portland attempted to restrict the ability for their own citizens within city polling locations to sign legal petitions, issued under the authority of the Maine Secretary of State, which would allow a referendum on the Maine ballot overturning provisions of Ranked Choice Voting.

In the last few hours an order was granted by the Cumberland County Superior Court ordering Portland City Officials to cease their signature blocking attempts and allow signatures to be gathered at the polls. 

Despite a long history in Maine of allowing groups to collect signatures at the polls for ballot referendums, Portland City officials attempted to deny this same right to Maine citizens who are working to restore one man, one vote voting in Maine; a ballot system which produced Senators like Olympia Snowe, and Margaret Chase Smith, decades of successful Governors, and winning United States Presidents of both political parties.

A rush is on to fill as many petition tables as possible to allow City residents the opportunity to exercise their right to sign.

Citizens who wish to learn more about repealing the failed, and out-of-state funded Ranked Choice Voting system thrust upon Maine can visit:  http://repealrankedchoice.com.

To view the Superior Court TRO, click here.

Unlike voters across the rest of the state of Maine, Portland voters will be denied the ability to sign Repeal Ranked-Choice Voting petitions on Super Tuesday at their polling place.

Using the argument that collecting Repeal RCV signatures AFTER voters had already cast their ballots might influence a city referendum over ranked-choice voting, the city of Portland decided not to allow any Repeal RCV circulators inside or within 250 feet of Portland polling locations.

This is a last-minute bureaucratic violation of our First Amendment rights.

“This is unacceptable. These are separate issues. One is about the city of Portland, the other is about protecting one person, one vote in Maine’s Presidential elections,” said Maine GOP executive director Jason Savage.

While Repeal RCV petitions will be available at more than 200 locations across Maine, they won’t be allowed anywhere near Portland’s polls.

“We tried to call Portland Mayor Kate Snyder and make our case to her, but our call was not returned,” said Savage.

“So now we are appealing to the people of Maine and specifically to the people of Portland. Portland residents who had hoped to sign a Repeal RCV petition tomorrow after they voted are being denied,” continued Mr. Savage.

“There are two ways to fix this. You can call your city government officials and express your displeasure, and you can go to www.RepealRankedChoice.com and tell us you want to sign and we’ll get someone to you.”

“Do not let this last-minute bureaucratic stunt silence you. Speak out and make your voice heard. Tell us you want to sign at www.RepealRankedChoice.com – they won’t stop us from succeeding.”

CITY CLERK CONTACT INFO
(207) 874-8610
[email protected]

MAYOR CONTACT INFO
Kate Snyder
(207) 874-8941
[email protected]

Where do Sara Gideon and others stand on the Democrat Presidential primary?

Good Afternoon,

With Super Tuesday bearing down on us here in Maine, it’s time for Sara Gideon, Betsy Sweet and Ross Lajeunesse to provide voters with some simple answers related to the Democratic Presidential primary on Tuesday.

We know that virtually every day, Republicans are asked to comment on the Presidential election. We get it, the story is compelling. But both sides of this story are compelling. Have you been watching this Democratic Party contest?

For all the press they have received, we can’t find a single mention of Sara Gideon’s position on the Democratic Presidential Primary.

Betsy Sweet thanked the NRSC on Twitter for linking her to AOC, Bernie Sanders and Ilhan Omar. That’s something, sort of… right? This is all we’ve got. Maybe she can add to that?

On Ross Lajeunesse, well, we don’t see much of anything…

Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren have teams hitting the streets hoping to win Maine.
Michael Bloomberg has three offices and a bus here now.

Teams are out in the field, ads are on the air (and on virtually every screen you can find, thanks Bloomberg) yet nobody knows where these Democrats running for U.S. Senate really stand on the race.

Seems like they should be willing to let the good folks of Maine know something about their positions. I mean, their choice shows who they hope to work within the seat they are running for…

They’re not going to let their progressive primary opponent Bre Kidman steal their thunder as the only candidate to endorse, are they?

What will it say if Sara stays silent? If Ross wants to represent us but won’t take a position? If Betsy’s position sours voters?

Further, given Bernie Sanders’ recent defense of the regime of Fidel Castro (his Democratic opponents have been more than eager to talk about it) do the candidates here in Maine have any concerns about sharing a ticket with the self-described socialist from Vermont?

These are real, relevant questions that every Democrat running for a seat in D.C. should be answering. So we’re asking directly, with less than a week to go until Maine votes on Super Tuesday, what are they going to do about Bernie? Who do they support?

I’ll bet you a coffee and a half-hour to pick my brain that this will make for some valuable and compelling news.

Stay warm and dry in the upcoming storm!

Sincerely,

Jason Savage
Executive Director
Maine GOP