STATE OF MAINE

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE

DETERMINATION OF THE VALIDITY OF A PETITION FOR PEOPLE'S VETO OF LEGISLATION ENTITLED: 

“An Act To Implement Tax Relief and Tax Reform”

1. On September 11, 2009 , 9,955 petitions containing 71,035 signatures were submitted to the Secretary of State pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 17 on behalf of the people's veto on the legislation entitled, “An Act To Implement Tax Relief and Tax Reform”.

2. Following a review of these 9,955 petitions I find the following signatures to be invalid for the following reasons:

1. 8,774 signatures are invalid because they were not certified by the registrar as belonging to a registered voter in that municipality. ( REG )
2. 3,380 signatures are invalid because the circulator's oath was not complete or not administered properly. (OATH)
3. 1,315 signatures are invalid because they are duplicates of signatures already counted. (DUP)
4. 638 signatures are invalid because the voter's signature was withdrawn (crossed out) on the petition. (WD)
5. 286 signatures are invalid because the voter dated his or her signature after the date of the circulator's oath before the notary or the voter's signature was not dated and it could not be determined that the voter signed the petition before the circulator took the oath. (DATE)
6. 194 signatures are invalid because the petition was not on the approved form. ( FORM )
7. 83 signatures are invalid because the petition was submitted to the municipal registrar for determination of whether the petitioners were qualified voters after the deadline set by the Maine Constitution, Article IV, Part Third, Section 20. ( AMD )
8. 75 signatures are invalid because the registered voter's signature was made by another. (ANO)
9. 71 signatures are invalid because the petitioner failed to provide a signature. (SIG)
10. 50 signatures are invalid because the notary was related to the circulator. (OWN)
11. 40 signatures are invalid because of material alterations to the petition. ( ALT )
12. 18 signatures are invalid because the circulator's status as a registered voter in the State of Maine could not be confirmed. (MUNI)
13. 4 signatures are invalid because the certification of the registrar was not completed. ( CERT )

3. For the reasons set forth above, I find that 14,928 signatures are invalid and 56,107 signatures are valid. The number of signatures required to determine the petition to be valid is 55,087. Because the number of valid signatures exceeds the required number by 1,020 signatures, I find the petition to be valid.

Dated: November 9, 2009

_______________________________

Matthew Dunlap Secretary of State