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Many states, including Maine, have strict requirements to run for office: aspiring independent candidates to the U.S. Senate must collect 4,000 signatures, witness each one personally, and swear an oath that every signature was made in their presence. These rules are easy to follow and ensure that candidates demonstrate their commitment to honestly qualifying for a place on the ballot. So when the Democratic Party saw the rules being eroded, they called on us.
Three oath violations
The Party was concerned about the validity of independent candidate Herbert Hoffman's nominating petitions. We conducted a thorough review of the law and the petitions, which uncovered numerous errors in the validation process—duplicate signatures, unregistered voters and most disconcerting, oath violations. There were signatures on three different petition sheets that were not made in Mr. Hoffman's presence. The law is clear that the entire petitions should be voided yet the Deputy Secretary of State had only invalidated three signatures.
Appeals under time pressure
This set the stage for a flurry of actions. We asked the Maine Secretary of State to reverse the decision of his Deputy. And while he did invalidate a number of the signatures, enough remained to put Hoffman on the ballot.
With the deadline for printing ballots fast approaching, we filed an immediate appeal in Maine Superior Court. It too ruled against the Party, leaving the Maine Law Court as the next recourse. The Maine Law Court reversed the Superior Court and ruled in the Party's favor, invalidating all three petition sheets. But the fight wasn't over.
The sanctity of the process
Over the next 30 days, Hoffman filed a motion for stay in the Law Court, a motion for a stay in the U.S. Supreme Court, and then an independent lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, seeking among other things, an injunction placing Hoffman's name on the ballot. Each action required our research teams to work on an emergency basis to defend the sanctity of Maine's ballot process. The petition-gathering rules were clear, and allowing the violations would have undermined that process. Maine voters can now be confident that all candidates are justly on the ballot.