Time to Resign

Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers has a conflict of interest: he is seeking to oversee an election where he himself is a candidate. Summers has a history of using his office for voter intimidation and suppression that makes this conflict even more problematic and should lead to his resignation of his state office.

In 2010, during the referendum on same-day voter registration, he worked with Maine Republican Party Chair Charlie Webster to amplify outrageous and false accusations of voter fraud in an attempt to swing public opinion and affect the vote. Summers even went so far as to send a threatening letter on official stationery to a list of college students provided by Webster in order to deter them from exercising their voting rights.

A Lewiston Sun Journal editorial called his tactics "intimidating" and "bullying" and the American Civil Liberties Union found that he had violated the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

We the undersigned believe that due to his history of voter intimidation and suppression and the inherent conflict of interest created by his candidacy, Secretary Summers should not be in a position to oversee the election for United States Senate.