Fraud charges in tribal racino drive disputed

Following the failure of the proposal for a tribal racino in Washington County to make the state ballot in 2006, because of an insufficient number of valid signatures on the petitions for the citizen initiative, charges of widespread fraud and forgery have gained the attention of racino opponents. However, supporters of the proposal for a tribal commercial track and slot machine operation maintain that those charges are inaccurate. They are not giving up on the effort for a statewide vote and now have until August 4 to gather a sufficient number of signatures so that the measure can be placed on the ballot in 2007.

On January 31, petitions with 60,524 signatures for the tribal racino were submitted to the Secretary of State's Office. After a review by local and state election officials, 12,985 were invalidated for a number of reasons. The required number of signatures this year is 50,519.

The total number of accepted valid signatures cannot be determined at this time because the Attorney General's Office is investigating allegations of irregularities in the gathering of signatures, in addition to the ones that have already been invalidated. Deputy Secretary of State Doug Dunbar says there is a concern "about possible forgery." He declines to elaborate on that investigation, except to say it is ongoing and there is no timeframe for completion.

Dunbar says the number of signatures invalidated is "within the ballpark" of other citizen initiatives. In 2003, the effort for a casino in southern Maine turned in about 68,000 signatures, with 16,000 invalidated, and the previous racino drive for the racetracks in Bangor and Scarborough gathered 82,000 signatures, with 25,000 invalidated. "It's not unusual" for that number of signatures to be invalidated, he says.

Proponents and voters who signed one of the submitted petitions were allowed to challenge the Secretary of State's decision in superior court within five business days. Steve Lechner, an attorney for the Washington County Tribal Track Coalition, which organized the signature drive, says the coalition has decided not to challenge the determination that there were an insufficient number of signatures. However, he notes that some signatures that were determined to be invalid may be found to be valid.

"The focus of the group is on bridging the gap in the signatures we need to be on the 2007 ballot," he says, adding that they will be collecting them as soon as possible. He notes that the coalition already has about 1,000 signatures that were not turned in to the Secretary of State's Office, since they were brought back by the circulators after the deadline.

State Senator Kevin Raye of Perry says he was disappointed that the citizen initiative was unsuccessful this time. "We will have to wait another year," he says, noting that racino proponents are fairly certain they can obtain the remaining number of signatures by August.
Coalition acted on misconduct by circulator

Lechner says there is little question that there was misconduct by one petition circulator, out of approximately 100 people who gathered signatures. "We discovered, with the help of town clerks, this one circulator," says Lechner. The petitions with fraudulent signatures then were separated from the other petitions by the coalition and were not turned in to the Secretary of State's Office. Earlier petitions circulated by that individual had both valid and invalid signatures, and those petitions were turned in, since the group felt the valid signatures should be counted.

Lechner says the coalition also turned the fraudulent petitions over to the Attorney General's Office about a week ago. "For some reason the story has become about widespread forgery," says Lechner, expressing frustration with the media. "There was not wholesale fraud. There was one circulator we found and turned in, and we urged the state to investigate and if necessary prosecute."

Members of the coalition questioned the circulator, who denied any wrongdoing, and "we terminated the relationship with that person," says Lechner.

The coalition's attorney says that he understands opponents of the racino intend to use the fraud charge in their campaign, but he says anyone who plans to use that charge without understanding the facts will place their political position "at great risk."

"It's a fraud on the public," says Lechner, adding that the racino proposal should "rise or fall on its own merits."

Lechner also points out that signatures that are determined to be invalid are not necessarily fraudulent. They may not meet the Secretary of State's criteria for reasons ranging from being over a year old to being by a person who is not a registered voter in a specific municipality.

According to the Secretary of State's Office, of the signatures found to be invalid, 8,212 were not certified by the registrar as belonging to a registered voter in that municipality; 2,430 were duplicates of signatures already counted; 575 were invalid because the circulator's oath was not complete; 476 were invalid because the voter's signature was withdrawn from the petition; 138 were invalid because the residency status of one circulator could not be confirmed; 341 were invalid because the voter dated his signature after the date of the circulator's oath before the notary; 213 were invalid because the voter's signature was made by another; 135 were invalid because the certification of the registrar was not completed; 101 were invalid because the voter failed to provide a signature; and 91 signatures were not on the approved form.

According to the Secretary of State's Office, of the signatures found to be invalid, 8,212 were not certified by the registrar as belonging to a registered voter in that municipality; 2,430 were duplicates of signatures already counted; 575 were invalid because the circulator's oath was not complete; 476 were invalid because the voter's signature was withdrawn from the petition; 138 were invalid because the residency status of one circulator could not be confirmed; 341 were invalid because the voter dated his signature after the date of the circulator's oath before the notary; 213 were invalid because the voter's signature was made by another; 135 were invalid because the certification of the registrar was not completed; 101 were invalid because the voter failed to provide a signature; and 91 signatures were not on the approved form.

Legislature discusses payment for signatures
A March 6 hearing by the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee on a bill to implement recommendations of a commission that was formed to study alternative voting procedures and the citizen initiative process included some discussion on issues related to the gathering of signatures for the Washington County racino. Although the bill would not place any restrictions on payment for signatures, the committee did consider amending the bill to add restrictions. Many of the circulators of the petitions for the racino were compensated per signature.

"I don't have a problem with a payment per signature," says Senator Ken Gagnon, co-chair of the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee. However, he suggests that requirements could be tightened up, with people only being paid for valid signatures or there could be a certification and training process for those people gathering signatures. Gagnon, though, is not sure that the committee would want to draft a complicated amendment at this time.
In 1994, the legislature passed a law prohibiting paying petition circulators on a per signature basis, to discourage the soliciting of fraudulent signatures, but the U.S. District Court invalidated the law in 1999. Since 1994, most federal courts have struck down payment per signature bans as violations of Freedom of Speech under the First Amendment.

Legislation still possible
The citizen initiative for a statewide referendum on the racino had become the focus of proponents after a joint order for the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee to report out racino legislation had failed in the Maine Senate earlier this year. However, legislative consideration of the racino question is still a possibility during this session. Senator Gagnon says he would be willing, if asked, to circulate a ballot to present to the Legislative Council to allow a bill to be taken up by the committee concerning a racino in Washington County. However, he notes that the larger issue is whether such legislation could be enacted, since the Senate voted down the joint order and Governor Baldacci has vetoed the Washington County racino legislation previously.