BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 13, 2022
Two referendum campaigns that grew out of backlash to Maine’s dominant utility may have to wait until 2023 after organizers signaled they may not have enough signatures to make the November ballot before a key deadline. The most sweeping question of the two that were targeted for the 2022 ballot would create a quasi-public agency to borrow billions of dollars to buy out the infrastructure of CMP and Versant Power and put the state’s system in control of an elected board. The other would bar foreign governments from spending to influence Maine elections. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for groups to get their issues on the ballot, an already arduous process that requires submitting more than 63,000 signatures from registered Maine voters to the secretary of state’s office by Jan. 31 after going to municipal clerks no more than 10 days earlier for approval.