AUGUSTA — The state’s highest court will hear oral arguments Wednesday in an appeal challenging Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to disqualify a November ballot initiative.

Protect Girls Sports in Maine wants voters to decide whether to continue to allow transgender girls to play on girls’ sports teams. The initiative also seeks to put in place new rules on school bathroom use for transgender students.

But the initiative has yet to qualify for the fall ballot, following a decision by Bellows that found the effort fell about 500 signatures short of what’s required.

In its appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Protect Girls Sports argues that Bellows overstepped her authority by invalidating “1,520 otherwise valid elector signatures.” 

They say she relied on a consent order to make her decision, which does not carry the same power as the Maine Constitution.

In response, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Bolton writes that Bellows had a duty to ensure that out-of-state circulators followed Maine law and that evidence presented during a hearing showed several instances when petitions were left unattended.

Wednesday’s hearing is just the latest legal maneuver following a determination in March by Bellows that the group had actually met the signature threshold.

That drew a lawsuit from three Mainers who alleged that Protect Girls Sports did not follow all laws when gathering the signatures. 

Following a hearing, Bellows reversed her decision, declaring that the group fell 532 signatures short of the requirement.

A Superior Court judge sided with Bellows, which brought the appeal to the state’s highest court.

Oral arguments are set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.