As progressive lawmakers around the nation violate fundamental principles of the rule of law, We the People increasingly are rising up to override lawlessness in an effort to reclaim normalcy. Such is the case in Maine, where a petition seeking a ballot proposal requiring a photo ID requirement for voting has gathered momentum.
The curious times in which Americans now find themselves hold that questioning election results is verboten, but so, too, is ensuring traditional protections of the process using voter ID are upheld. This circular logic at times appears designed to doubly undermine voter confidence in the election process.
The Maine initiative may reflect a national movement against this “halve your cake and eat it too” deterioration of voter system trust in the name of “preventing barriers to voting participation.” Voter ID laws are not motivated by a desire to prevent people from voting but to prevent people from cheating.
Vermont requires citizens to show photo ID to purchase marijuana but not to vote. The Green Mountain State has vocally defended illegal immigrants against federal immigration law enforcement, and its laws permit illegal immigrants to vote in municipal elections. A current initiative seeks to prohibit landlords from requiring Social Security numbers from potential tenants, an effort to facilitate rentals for people in the country illegally.
The Maine initiative was prompted by a conservative political action committee called The Dinner Table. The group was co-founded by Maine firebrand state Rep. Laurel Libby, who has repeatedly confounded progressive efforts to undermine women’s rights through transgender ideology. Maine Gov. Janet Mills recently butted heads with President Donald Trump’s efforts to “ban trans girls from women’s sports,” making Libby’s push for sensible voter ID laws particularly timely.
Libby says the number of signatures collected for The Dinner Table initiative has “far exceeded” what is required to put the issue to the public. The Maine legislature must either enact the proposal outright or let the Mainers decide. Libby claims, “The time is right because Maine people have spoken up and made it really clear they want voter ID to be the law of the land. This citizens initiative is Maine people speaking up.”
More American voices are being raised against open borders, biological men in women’s sports, fraud in government, protections for illegal criminals by public school teachers and extremist progressives, and voter ID requirements that would not have been controversial just a few decades ago. Indeed, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at one time supported cutting federal jobs for efficiency, securing the southern border, and preserving traditional marriage against gay unions, but “progress” has left such views in the rearview mirror. Many Americans perceive their opinions also have been left behind, reflected in the 2024 election results.
In response to the Maine transgender intransigence, the US Department of Education is investigating whether the state is violating federal anti-discrimination laws. The president has insisted that Maine must stop allowing trans-athletes in girls’ sports, or the state is “not going to get any federal funding.” Voters may be tiring of far-left extremist initiatives, even in maniacal Maine, where a recent effort failed to statutorily “protect kidnappers” who take children from their parents in order to provide “gender-affirming care.”
Vermont thus far has similarly resisted conservative efforts to protect women’s sports, border security, and voting integrity. The Maine political battle may shift to other states that are even more extremely progressive: California, perhaps? Voters’ eyes are watching the showdown between Mills and the Trump administration over “trans rights” versus “girls’ rights.” If Trump succeeds in blocking federal dollars to Maine, will Vermont (highly dependent on federal monies) blink? If the federal funding spigot is shut off, will voters blame Trump for standing firm, or belligerent progressives for antagonizing the federal gift horse by kicking it in the mouth?
The Maine voter ID initiative may well catch man-on-a-mission Trump’s eye, prompting an executive order mandating voter ID nationally. This, too, might be conditioned on receipt of federal funding. Or perhaps the issue will be taken up by Congress. If the United States will not enforce voter ID laws common in most nations of the world, voters may decide to go that direction in the 2026 mid-term elections, much like Maine in its current battle to implement voter ID mandates.