The quarterly deadline for campaign finance reports in Maine was Oct. 6, meaning the latest filings for ballot measure committees cover contributions and expenditures through Sept. 30.
Through Sept. 30, campaigns for and against the two ballot initiatives on Maine’s Nov. 4, 2025, ballot have raised a combined $3.3 million.
The two ballot measures are both citizen initiatives. Question 1 would require voters to present photo identification, as well as make changes to absentee voting and the use of ballot drop boxes. Question 2 would establish a process for obtaining an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO), also known as a red-flag law, which would restrict someone’s access to weapons “capable of producing death or serious bodily injury,” including firearms.
Supporters of Question 1 received $602,231 in contributions, while opponents received more than $1.7 million. The top donor supporting the committees was the Republican State Leadership Committee, which is a national 527 group that aims “to elect down-ballot, state-level Republican officeholders.” The committee contributed $500,000, accounting for 83% of the campaign’s total funds. The top donor to opposition committees was the Democratic Governors Association, Maine Chapter, which contributed $154,899.
Supporters of Question 2 received $843,708 in contributions, while opponents reported receiving $64,594.
The largest contributor to support committees was the Global Impact Social Welfare Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization “that supports philanthropic funding for social impact.” The organization donated $75,000. The group has also contributed to the campaign supporting a veto referendum in Missouri that seeks to overturn the state’s new congressional district map. The top contributors to opposition committees were the Gun Owners of Maine and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, each contributing $5,000.
Cost per required signature analysis
Since 2013, Ballotpedia has tracked signature costs for ballot initiative campaigns in odd-numbered years. Because Maine’s two initiatives are the only statewide citizen initiatives on the 2025 ballot nationwide, the signature cost analysis is based solely on their campaign expenditures data.
Of the two initiatives, only one campaign reported spending money on signature gathering. Voter ID for ME, the campaign in support of Question 1, relied entirely on unpaid volunteers and therefore made no expenditures to collect signatures.
According to campaign finance reports through Sept. 30, initiative campaigns reported a combined $3.3 million in contributions. Of that total, $93,829 was spent on the signature drive for Question 2, resulting in a CPRS of $1.39, based on the requirement of 67,682 valid signatures.
In 2025, the average cost-per-required-signature (CPRS) was $0.70, down from $14.87 in 2024 and $9.38 in 2023, and surpassing the previous low of $2.69 in 2019.
The signature-gathering process varies across the 26 states that allow citizen-initiated ballot measures. Each state differs in requirements, such as the number of signatures needed, circulation period lengths, and regulations for signature gatherers. Ballotpedia uses two methods to measure the cost of a petition drive—the total cost and cost-per-required signature (CPRS).
The total cost refers to the amount spent to gather enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the ballot.
The cost-per-required-signature (CPRS) is the total amount spent on gathering signatures divided by the number of signatures needed to qualify the measure. CPRS allows for comparisons of signature-gathering costs across states. For example, if a campaign spends $1 million on a petition drive in a state requiring 100,000 signatures, its CPRS would be $10, meaning $10 per required signature. If the same amount was spent but 200,000 signatures were required, the CPRS would be $5.
Across the seven odd-numbered years from 2013 to 2025, there were a total of 27 initiatives on the ballot. Campaigns for these initiatives spent a cumulative $33 million on signature-gathering drives. The average CPRS was $7.25.
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