Maine Question 1, Limit Contributions to Super PACs Initiative (2024)

Maine Question 1
Election date November 5, 2024
Topic Campaign finance
Status a Approved
Type State statute	Origin Citizens

Maine Question 1, the Limit Contributions to Super PACs Initiative, was on the ballot in Maine as an indirect initiated state statute on November 5, 2024. The ballot measure was approved.

A "yes" vote supported limiting the amount of campaign contributions to $5,000 from individuals and entities to political action committees that make independent expenditures.

A "no" vote opposed limiting the amount of campaign contributions to $5,000 from individuals and entities to political action committees that make independent expenditures.

Election results

Maine Question 1
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		583,902	74.45%
No		200,386	25.55%

Precincts reporting: 95%
Election results are unofficial until certified. These results were last updated on November 14, 2024 at 2:04:27 AM Eastern Time.

Source

Overview

How did this measure change campaign finance law in Maine?

This measure was designed to limit contributions to $5,000 annually to a political action committee making independent expenditures, also known as a super PAC. The measure limited campaign contributions made by individuals, business entities, and other political action committees.

What is a super PAC?

A super PAC is a political committee that can solicit and spend unlimited sums of money. They are not political action committees—the two types of groups are legally distinct, and different rules govern each. A super PAC cannot contribute directly to a politician or political party, but it can spend independently to campaign for or against political figures. Super PACs are legally known as independent expenditure-only committees. Meanwhile, traditional PACs have a $5,000 per person cap on donations and cannot accept money from corporations or unions, but can contribute directly to a politician or political party.

In 1976, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Buckley v. Valeo that individuals cannot be prevented from spending unlimited sums of money on political messaging. After two 2010 rulings, the United States Supreme Court lifted restrictions on corporation and union spending in politics. Individuals, corporations and unions may now legally donate and spend unlimited amounts on independent political speech; they may also donate unlimited amounts to groups that make independent expenditures.

How did this measure get on the ballot?

In order for citizens to place an initiative on the ballot in Maine, the supporters of the initiative need to collect a number of signatures that is equal to 10 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. For the 2024 ballot, this is equal to 67,682 valid signatures. Petitions can circulate for up to 18 months, but signatures must be no more than one year old to be valid. Signatures are then submitted to the secretary of state. Because Maine's process for citizen initiatives is indirect, sufficient initiative petitions first go to the state legislature. The legislature can either pass the initiative, which means it will pass into law; or they can reject or not act on the initiative, which sends the initiative to the ballot.

Maine Citizens to End Super PACs is the campaign supporting the initiative. The initiative was received by the secretary of state on October 30, 2023, and cleared to circulate. On January 23, 2024, Maine Citizens to End Super PACs submitted 77,831 signatures, according to the secretary of state's office. The secretary of state's office found 16,081 valid signatures and sent the measure to the state legislature. Because the state legislature did not act on the measure, it was sent to the ballot after the legislature adjourned.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The official ballot title was as follows:

“

Do you want to set a $5,000 limit for giving to political action committees that spend money independently to support or defeat candidates for office?

”

Full text

The full text of the ballot initiative is below:

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2024

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The secretary of state wrote the ballot language for this measure.

The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 14, and the FRE is 34. The word count for the ballot title is 24.

Support

Citizens to End Super PACs was leading the campaign in support of the initiative.

Supporters

Organizations

• Equal Citizens

Arguments

• Lawrence Lessig, Founder of Equal Citizens: "SuperPACs have been with us for more than 13 years. So it is understandable that most lawyers believe the Supreme Court has upheld them. It has not. Likewise, it is understandable that many political organizations, including reform organizations on the Left and Right, have become dependent on the super-wealthy to do their work. Some of them now support SuperPACs, as do many of the most wealthy in America who use SuperPACs to influence American politics. But we know that the vast majority of Americans on both the Left and Right hate the corruption of big money in American politics. And we will do everything we can to give those citizens the chance to get their democracy back."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not locate a campaign in opposition to the ballot measure.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Maine ballot measures

The campaign finance information on this page reflects the most recent scheduled reports that Ballotpedia has processed, which covered through October 25, 2024. The deadline for the next scheduled reports is December 17, 2024.

Citizens to End Super PACs was registered to support the initiative.

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	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$478,174.00	$1,041,164.70	$1,519,338.70	$329,650.66	$1,370,815.36
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Support

The following table includes contribution and expenditure totals for the committees in support of the measure.

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Committees in support of Question 1
Committee	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Citizens to End SuperPACs	$478,174.00	$1,041,164.70	$1,519,338.70	$329,650.66	$1,370,815.36
Total	$478,174.00	$1,041,164.70	$1,519,338.70	$329,650.66	$1,370,815.36

Donors

The following were the top donors to the committee.

Donor	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions
EqualCitizens.US	$0.00	$1,040,650.70	$1,040,650.70
Yard Systems, Inc.	$200,000.00	$0.00	$200,000.00

Media editorials

See also: 2024 ballot measure media endorsements

Support

The following media editorial boards published an editorial supporting the ballot measure:

• Portland Press Herald Editorial Board: "Ours would be the first state in the nation since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010 to move to limit contributions to PACs that can make independent expenditures. We believe that political spending has spiraled out of control, in many cases, and that the absence of any limit on PACs is inappropriate and leaves America’s system of campaigning and voting vulnerable to the whims of bad actors. If Maine can play a leading role in bringing some order and fairness to political spending nationally, we should seize the chance."
• Bangor Daily News Editorial Board: "While we support Question 1, which would change state law to limit contributions to Super PACs to $5,000, voters should realize that this initiative is really about setting up a legal challenge to campaign contributions. While it is a longshot that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn rulings that have largely extinguished limits on campaign funding, we believe that the amount of money spent on political campaigns is outrageous and that limits need to be set."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not locate media editorial boards in opposition to the ballot measure.

Background

Super PACs

A super PAC is a political committee that can solicit and spend unlimited sums of money. A super PAC cannot contribute directly to a politician or political party, but it can spend independently to campaign for or against political figures. These committees are also called independent expenditure-only committees. A super PAC is not legally considered a political action committee (PAC) and as such is regulated under separate rules.

In 1976, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Buckley v. Valeo that individuals cannot be prevented from spending unlimited sums of money on political messaging. With two 2010 rulings, the United States Supreme Court lifted restrictions on corporation and union spending in politics. Individuals, corporations and unions may now legally donate and spend unlimited amounts on independent political speech; they may also donate unlimited amounts to groups that make independent expenditures.

Super PACs are not political action committees. The two types of groups are legally distinct, and different rules govern each. Super PACs are legally known as independent expenditure-only committees.

“	Independent expenditures represent spending by individuals, groups, political committees, corporations or unions expressly advocating the election or defeat of clearly identified federal candidates. These expenditures may not be made in concert or cooperation with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate, the candidate's campaign or a political party.	”
—Federal Election Commission

Unlike super PACs, traditional PACs have a $5,000 per person cap on donations and cannot accept money from corporations or unions. On the other hand, regular PACs may contribute directly to a politician or political party, whereas super PACs are limited to spending independently of such campaigns. Super PACs are also exempt from requirements to immediately report funding sources.

Buckley v. Valeo

See also: Buckley v. Valeo

In 1976, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected the right of individuals to spend unlimited sums of money on political speech.

The court affirmed in part and reversed in part the judgment of the D.C. Circuit, while affirming the judgment of the district court. The court underscored a distinction between contributions and expenditures; while upholding FECA's federal campaign contribution limits, the court overturned limits on expenditures. The court felt that limits on campaign contributions "served the government's interest in safeguarding the integrity of elections," but, citing First Amendment concerns, felt that the effect of "expenditure limitations is to restrict the quantity of campaign speech by individuals, groups and candidates." The decision acknowledged that restrictions on campaign limits and expenditures both have potential First Amendment implications, but that the FECA's limitations on expenditures constituted "significantly more severe restrictions on protected freedom of political expression and association than do its limitations on financial contributions."

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

See also: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot ban political spending by corporations or unions. Because these entities are "associations of citizens," the First Amendment right to free speech also applies to these groups.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the court considered federal laws that prohibited "corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make independent expenditures for speech defined as an 'electioneering communication' or for speech expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate."

Speechnow v. FEC

See also: SpeechNOW v. Federal Election Commission

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled that individuals can contribute unlimited sums of money to political committees that make independent expenditures.

A Federal Election Commission advisory opinion states the following:

“	Following Citizens United and SpeechNow, corporations, labor organizations, and political committees may make unlimited independent expenditures from their own funds, and individuals may pool unlimited funds in an independent expenditure-only political committee. It necessarily follows that corporations, labor organizations and political committees also may make unlimited contributions to organizations such as the Committee that make only independent expenditures.	”
—Federal Election Commission

List of state ballot measure election results by year (1988-2023)

The following table provides a list of campaign finance ballot measures from 1988 to 2023:

State	Year	Measure	Yes	No	Outcome
Maine	2023	Question 2, Prohibit Foreign Spending in Elections Initiative	86.33%	13.67%	a
Arizona	2022	Proposition 211, Campaign Finance Sources Disclosure Initiative	72.34%	27.66%	a
Alaska	2020	Ballot Measure 2, Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting and Campaign Finance Laws Initiative	50.55%	49.45%	a
Massachusetts	2018	Question 2, Advisory Commission for Amendments to the U.S. Constitution Regarding Corporate Personhood and Political Spending Initiative	71.36%	28.64%	a
Washington	2016	State-Provided Campaign Financing Funded by a Non-Resident Sales Tax, Initiative 1464	53.71%	46.29%	d
Missouri	2016	State and Judicial Campaign Contribution Limits, Constitutional Amendment 2	69.95%	30.05%	a/ot
California	2016	Proposition 59, Overturn of Citizens United Act Advisory Question	53.18%	46.82%	a
Maine	2015	"Clean Elections" Initiative, Question 1	54.96%	45.04%	a
Montana	2012	Corporate Contributions Initiative, I-166	74.67%	25.33%	a
Florida	2010	Amendment 1, Repeal of Public Financing for Statewide Campaigns Amendment	52.49%	47.51%	d
Oregon	2006	Measure 47, Campaign Finance Limits and Disclosure Initiative	53.04%	46.96%	a
Ohio	2005	Issue 3, Campaign Finance Initiative	33.14%	66.86%	d
California	2000	Proposition 34, State Elective Office Campaign Contribution Limits Measure	60.01%	39.99%	a
California	1996	Proposition 212, Campaign Spending and Contribution Limits Initiative	49.16%	50.84%	d
Washington	1992	Initiative 134, Campaign Contribution Limit Measure	72.89%	27.11%	a
California	1988	Proposition 105, Disclosure Requirements to Consumers, Voters, and Investors Initiative	54.59%	45.41%	a

Path to the ballot

Process in Maine

In Maine, the number of signatures required to qualify an indirect initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Petitions can be circulated for up to 18 months, but signatures must be no more than one year old to be valid. Signatures must be filed with the secretary by the 50th day of the first regular legislative session or the 25th day of the second regular session. Maine's initiative process is indirect, which means sufficient initiative petitions first go to the legislature and only go to the ballot if the legislature rejects or does not act on the initiative.

The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2024 ballot:

• Signatures: 67,682 valid signatures were required.
• Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was January 29, 2024.

Each petition signature is certified by the local registrar of voters. The signatures are then submitted to the secretary of state. If enough signatures are verified, the initiatives are sent to the legislature. If the legislature approves the initiative, it becomes law. If the legislature does not act on the initiative or rejects it, the initiative goes on the ballot. The legislature may submit "any amended form, substitute, or recommendation" to the people alongside the initiative; this alternative is treated as a competing measure.

Stages of this initiative

• The initiative was received by the secretary of state on October 30, 2023, and was approved to circulate.
• On December 7, 2023, the Maine Beacon reported that Maine Citizens to End Super PACs, the campaign behind the initiative, said that they collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in 2024.
• On January 23, 2024, Maine Citizens to End Super PACs submitted 77,831 signatures, according to the secretary of state's office.
• On February 22, 2024, the Secretary of state's office announced that they found 76,081 valid signatures.
• The initiative was introduced in the Maine State Legislature as LD 2232 on February 28, 2024. It did not receive a vote in the state legislature and was sent to the November ballot.

Sponsors of the measure hired EqualCitizens.US to collect signatures for the petition to qualify this measure for the ballot. A total of $1,026,720.00 was spent to collect the 67,682 valid signatures required to put this measure before voters, resulting in a total cost per required signature (CPRS) of $15.17.

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Maine

Click "Show" to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in Maine.

How to cast a vote in Maine

Poll times In Maine, municipalities with a population of 500 or more open their polls between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., while municipalities with a population of less than 500 open their polls between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. All polls close at 8:00 p.m. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote. Registration Check your voter registration status here. To register to vote in Maine, one must be "a United States citizen, at least 16 years of age to pre-register to vote, and have established a fixed principal home in Maine. To vote in a Referendum or General Election, you must be registered in the community where you reside, and be at least 18 years of age. A 17 year old may vote in a Primary Election, if that person will be 18 by the General Election." Voters can return completed registration cards in person or by mail to their town office or city hall, any Motor Vehicle branch office, most state & federal social service agencies, or a voter registration drive. There is no deadline for voter registration if completed in person. If registering by mail, the deadline is 21 days prior to the election. When registering for the first time in Maine, voters must provide documents verifying their identity and residence. The following documents are acceptable identification for the purpose of registering to vote: Government ID with a photo (i.e. driver’s license, State ID, valid U.S. Passport, military ID, ID card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe) Government ID without photo (i.e. certified birth certificate or signed Social Security card) Other official document showing the name and address of voter (i.e. eligibility for public benefits, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck) Student photo ID from a state-approved public or private school or institute of higher education in Maine Maine driver’s license number or last four digits of Social Security Number Automatic registration On June 19, 2019, Gov. Janet Mills signed an automatic voter registration bill into law that was scheduled for implementation in 2022. The law registers voters through the Department of Motor Vehicles. Online registration See also: Online voter registration Maine has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Governor Janet T. Mills (D) signed L.D. 1126 into law on July 9, 2021, allowing online voter registration in Maine. This legislation went into effect on November 1, 2023. Same-day registration Maine allows same-day voter registration. Residency requirements To register to vote in Maine, you must be a resident of the state. State law does not specify a length of time for which you must have been a resident to be eligible. Verification of citizenship See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States Maine does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. As of November 2024, five states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, and New Hampshire — had passed laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration. However, only two of those states' laws were in effect, in Arizona and New Hampshire. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allowed noncitizens to vote in some local elections as of November 2024. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters. Verifying your registration The Maine voter information lookup service allows residents to check their voter registration status online. Voter ID requirements Maine does not require voters to present identification while voting. If a voter registers to vote on Election Day, he or she must provide identification and proof of residence.

See also

2024 measures

• 2024 ballot measures
• Campaign finance on the ballot
• 2024 legislative sessions

Maine

• Maine ballot measures
• Maine ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls