Write content for November 2019 Question: Allow for Alternative Initiative Signatures for Persons with Disabilities Amendment

[shannonmcharg]

https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Allow_for_Alternative_Initiative_Signatures_for_Persons_with_Disabilities_Amendment_(2019)

[shannonmcharg]

Question title

Question 1: Alternative Signatures

Description (will display on homepage)

This measure would allow people with disabilities to sign petitions using alternative signatures.

The gist

This resolution would allow people with physical disabilities that prevent them from physically signing an original signature to sign petitions using an alternative method, such as a signature stamp or having someone sign on their behalf.

Ballot question (exact text of the question)

"Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to allow persons with disabilities to sign petitions in an alternative manner as authorized by the Legislature?"

Yes means

I want to allow people with disabilities to sign petitions using an alternative signature.

No means

I don't want to keep the requirement for everyone to use an original signature for petitions.

Tell me more

People with disabilities can already register to vote and sign candidate petitions using alternative signatures. The requirement wasn't changed for citizen's initiatives and citizen's veto petitions because it requires a constitutional change. This measure would amend the state constitution to extend the broader signature requirement to citizen's initiative and citizen's veto petitions.

This question is a constitutional resolution, which, if passed, would make a change to the state constitution.

Follow the money

There is no cost to enact this requirement.

Pros

The primary arguments for this referendum are:

• It would allow people with disabilities to participate in the petition process.
• It would make the requirements for citizen's initiatives and citizen's veto petitions consistent with the requirements for candidate petitions and registering to vote.

Cons

The primary arguments against this referendum are:

• It requires amending the constitution.
• Alternative signatures may be more difficult to verify than original signatures.

Who cares

Nobody has registered support or opposition to this measure.

Further reading

Full text
Ballotpedia article

References

Put the number in brackets above to indicate a footnote to a reference.

1. Maine State Legislature. H.P. 1049 - L.D. 1437. Accessed August 30, 2019.
2. Ballotpedia State Desk. Maine Allow for Alternative Initiative Signatures for Persons with Disabilities Amendment (2019). Ballotpedia. Accessed August 30, 2019.
3. Byrne, Ryan. Maine to vote on a ballot measure to allow persons with physical disabilities to sign initiative petitions using an alternative signature. Ballotpedia. Accessed August 30, 2019.

Image

https://pxhere.com/en/photo/617274

Tags

Constitutional Resolution, Accessibility, Petitions

Election date

November 5, 2019

[elburnett]

Testing if this works

[shannonmcharg]

Testing again

[shannonmcharg]

@elburnett I fleshed out the template a little bit more and added the link to the full text of the question. It doesn't post edits to comments to Slack, so if you want people to know you've made edits that are ready to review, add a comment letting us know you made edits.

Can you also keep in mind things it would be helpful to add to the template for future questions as you're filling it out?

[shannonmcharg]

We need to get this content written. Last year, people starting coming to the website in September. I have time to get it started today.

[shannonmcharg]

Draft content is in the issue description. Does anyone have time to review?

[shannonmcharg]

Here it is on the site. I'd still like to get some other eyeballs on this, so let me know if you have any feedback.
https://maineballot.org/november%202019%20election/Q1_AltSignature/

[shannonmcharg]

The new bond issue is now question 1, so this one needs to become question 2.