AUGUSTA — Supporters of a ballot measure over transgender athletes and bathroom access are pushing back against a ruling that disqualified their question from the November ballot.

In a recent court filing, attorneys for Protect Girls Sports in Maine say Secretary of State Shenna Bellows exceeded her authority when she declared that the group failed to gather enough valid signatures. 

The brief asserts that Bellows, a Democrat who is running for governor, didn’t abide by the state constitution, which gives Mainers broad powers to bring forward citizen initiatives.

“The Secretary not only failed to acknowledge those binding principles, she disregarded and violated them,” the brief states. 

As an example, the attorneys argue that Bellows overstepped by invalidating the signatures of those who used “ditto” marks rather than printing the date.

“Although the Secretary’s error on this point does not involve a large number of signatures, those signatures are important to the electors who dated their signatures in this fashion,” according to the brief. 

The back and forth over the controversial measure began in March, when Bellows initially ruled that the group had gathered enough valid signatures to put the measure on the fall ballot.

That drew a lawsuit from three Mainers who said they believed petition circulators failed to follow all of the rules when gathering the signatures. 

Following a hearing, which included testimony from those who said they witnessed circulators leaving their petitions unattended, a deputy in Bellows’ office recommended that the office reverse course and invalidate the initiative.

Bellows made it official in late May, saying that following an investigation, the group fell 532 signatures short of the required 67,682. 

“What happened in this case is that out of state circulators failed to agree to abide by the laws of Maine and at least two circulators did not abide by the laws of Maine,” Bellows said on May 26.

The initiative requires schools to designate all sports teams as male, female or co-ed. It defines sex as a person’s status at birth. It requires public schools to maintain separate restrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms for girls and boys. 

In a brief filed late last week, attorneys for the group that brought the lawsuit challenging the signatures argued that Bellows reached the right decision.

“The remand proceedings broadly confirmed Petitioners’ overarching argument that the Measure’s signature-collecting process was tainted by wrongdoing and failed to collect a sufficient number of valid signatures to qualify for the November 2026 ballot,” the attorneys wrote. 

All sides have until the end of the day to file additional arguments. No timeline has been set for Justice Deborah Cashman to issue a ruling.