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	Podcast:		Maine Things Considered
	Episode:		Legislature Nixes Constitutional Amendment To Change Citizen Initiative Requirements
	Category:		Government & Organizations
	Duration:
	Publish Date:		2018-04-17 14:33:08
	Description:		A measure that would have given voters the chance to amend the state constitution and change how citizen initiative questions get on the ballot is dead — at least for this session. On Tuesday, the Maine Senate approved the measure by the two-thirds needed to send a constitutional amendment to voters, but the House didn’t. Under the current rules, activists must collect at least enough signatures to equal 10 percent of the number of votes cast for governor in the last election in order to get an initiative before the Legislature. The proposal would have required the signatures be collected by congressional district in order to ensure voters across the state support the bill. “The fact is, Mr. President, that a well-organized group could collect half the signatures in Portland and drive up the turnpike thirty miles and collect the rest of their signatures in Lewiston, in the 2nd District,” said Democratic state Sen. Nate Libby of Lewiston, who opposed the amendment. Proponents of the
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