There are five statewide referendum questions on the November 2024 General Election ballot and voters across Maine will determine if they pass or fail.
For a citizen’s initiative to make the 2024 ballot as a Maine referendum, the number of valid signatures required for an initiative to make the ballot is equal to 10 percent of votes cast for governor in the previous gubernatorial election.
The Maine Legislature can also place statewide ballot measures in the form of constitutional amendments and state statutes on the ballot. The most common form of this type of referred statute are statewide bond issues.
Maine is one of 16 states that requires a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber during one legislative session to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 101 votes in the Maine House of Representatives and 24 votes in the Maine Senate. These types of constitutional amendments do not require the governor's signature to be placed on the ballot.
Statutes, including bond issues, require a simple majority vote in each legislative chamber during one legislative session and the governor's signature to appear on the ballot.
The Maine Constitution also requires that state bonds exceeding $2 million be placed on the ballot for voter approval.
Here are this year’s five statewide referendum initiatives for 2024:
QUESTION 1: An Act to Limit Contributions to Political Action Committees That Make Independent Expenditures. Do you want to set a $5,000 limit for giving to political action committees that spend money independently to support or defeat candidates for office?
QUESTION 2: An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue for Research and Development and Commercialization. Do you favor a bond issue of $25,000,000 to provide funds, to be awarded through a competitive process and to leverage matching private and federal funds on at least a one-to-one basis, for research and development and commercialization for Maine-based public and private institutions in support of technological innovation in the targeted sectors of life sciences and biomedical technology, environmental and renewable energy technology, information technology, advanced technologies for forestry and agriculture, aquaculture and marine technology, composites and advanced materials and precision manufacturing?
QUESTION 3: An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Restore Historic Community Buildings. Do you favor a $10,000,000 bond issue to restore historic buildings owned by governmental and nonprofit organizations, with funds being issued contingent on a 25 percent local match requirement from either private or nonprofit sources?
QUESTION 4: An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Promote the Design, Development and Maintenance of Trails for Outdoor Recreation and Active Transportation. Do you favor a $30,000,000 bond issue to invest in the design, development and maintenance for nonmotorized, motorized and multi-use trails statewide, to be matched by at least $3,000,000 in private and public contributions?
QUESTION 5: An Act to Restore the Former State of Maine Flag. Do you favor making the former state flag, replaced as the official flag of the State in 1909 and commonly known as the Pine Tree Flag, as the official flag of the State?
The order of referendum questions on the November 2024 General Election ballot was established through a public lottery held by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Maine Deputy Secretary of State for Corporations, Elections and Commissions Julie Flynn in July.
Under Maine Law, questions must be arranged in the following order: carry-over measures from a previous election; people's veto questions; initiated measures; bond issues; constitutional amendments; and other legislatively proposed referenda. Within each grouping, questions must be arranged in a random order determined by a selection process conducted in public. All questions must be numbered sequentially on ballots distributed to voters. <
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