MAINE, Maine — Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s team filed a lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, claiming Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows unconstitutionally enforced a "sudden ban on third party and independent candidates from collecting petition signatures at the polls on March 5."
The Kennedy team claims it can't collect ballot petition signatures inside polling locations as party candidates are permitted to do so. Kennedy, an independent, says potential presidential candidates who are not on the primary ballot should be able to collect petition signatures inside polling places ahead of Super Tuesday.
"Defendant, the Maine Secretary of State, is out of control, exposing herself as a Democrat partisan hack, disinterested in the rule of law," the lawsuit reads.
In Maine, non-party candidates for president need to submit a nomination petition with at least 4,000 signatures by Aug. 1 in order to qualify for the November presidential ballot.
Kennedy's team says they were told they could get inside polling locations to collect those signatures on primary day, using tables provided by the state. But later, on Feb. 12, they claim Bellows told town clerks not to allow those with presidential nomination petitions to collect signatures at polling locations because it "threatened to unduly influence the voters."
Maine election law states that a person collecting signatures must do so outside of the voting place unless there is a separate room that is not accessible from the area where the voting occurs.
In a statement, representatives from the secretary of state's office told us Thursday, "Maine's election laws provide for free, fair, and secure elections, and we stand ready to defend them."
“Maine law is very clear: within the voting place itself, a person may not influence another person's decision regarding a candidate for an office or question that is on the ballot for the election that day," Bellows said, Thursday evening. "That’s why no presidential campaign can collect signatures on presidential primary day.
“That being said when a candidate’s office is not on the ballot, they can absolutely collect signatures," Bellows continued. "There’s a statewide election in June. Certainly, Mr. Kennedy can collect signatures then. It’s important to recognize that it’s when a candidate’s office is on the ballot, that they cannot collect signatures because, for good reason, Maine law prohibits political activities that influence a voter," Bellows said.
Primary Day is Tuesday, March 5.