Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, a leader in the effort to get a voter ID proposal on the ballot in Maine, speaks during a news conference in Augusta last month prior to the group turning in over 170,000 signatures to the Maine secretary of state. Rachel Ohm/Portland Press Herald

A proposal to require photo identification from voters at Maine polling places and adopt other voting restrictions has officially qualified for the November ballot.

The secretary of state’s office announced Wednesday that it certified enough valid signatures to send the question to a statewide referendum.

The proposal calls for the state to require a photo ID at the polls or when a voter requests an absentee ballot. The proposal includes a religious exemption for those who object to being photographed.

If passed, it also would eliminate ongoing absentee voting, which allows a voter to have an absentee ballot mailed to them automatically for each election cycle, and it would place limits on the use of and number of absentee ballot drop boxes, among other things.

Proponents say the initiative would boost election security, while opponents say the changes would suppress participation in Maine elections.

Organizers behind the proposal turned in an estimated 171,562 signatures of voters who support the initiative, and the Maine Department of the Secretary of State said it reviewed about half of the signatures that were turned in before determining the petitions exceeded the threshold.

The secretary of state’s office found 86,904 valid signatures among those it reviewed, for a validity rate of 92.3%, the office said in a news release. That number far exceeds the 67,682 signatures that were required in order to send the question to voters.

“We’re excited to have officially made the ballot and look forward to a robust campaign over the next nine months on our way to victory in November,” said Alex Titcomb, lead petitioner and co-founder and executive director of The Dinner Table, an organization dedicated to conservative causes in Maine.

The Legislature has the option of voting to pass citizen initiatives without sending them to a statewide referendum, but the proposal has no chance of passing in that fashion, given that Democrats who have the majority of seats have pushed for increased voter access and opposed voter ID measures in the past.

Thirty-six states currently request or require voters to show identification at the polls. Of those, 21 ask for a photo ID while the other 15 also accept non-photo IDs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Maine requires identification when a new voter registers, but it is not required for a registered voter to obtain a ballot.

The League of Women Voters of Maine, a nonpartisan organization that encourages active and informed political participation, said in a statement Wednesday that the proposal would be one of the most restrictive voter ID requirements in the country and would cause harm by changing a variety of aspects of current voting law in Maine.

“If voters were aware of the full scope of this legislation, they would rush to oppose it,” said Anna Kellar, the league’s executive director. “These restrictions can and will harm every type of voter. It’s disappointing to see Mainers try to impose these barriers on their fellow Mainers’ right to vote, when this state is justly proud of its high voter participation rates.”

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, has also said she opposes the proposal, in part because of the changes it contains that go beyond simply requiring photo identification at polls.

The proposal limits municipalities to having only one secured drop box for absentee ballots, and removes a part of current law that allows towns and cities to install additional drop boxes.

It also includes a prohibition on municipalities prepaying the return postage of an absentee ballot and sets up a new requirement for a “bipartisan team of election officials” to collect absentee ballots from drop boxes, as opposed to current law, which gives that responsibility to the municipal clerk or two people designated by the clerk.

And it rolls back the deadline to request an absentee ballot from three business days before the election to seven.

It also puts in place a process for voters who don’t have their IDs at the polls to return to their registrar of voters within four days to present their ID and have their ballot counted. Bellows said that conflicts with the current requirement that municipalities have just two days from the day of an election to certify results.

Titcomb acknowledged that the four days for voters to present ID if their ballot is challenged is in conflict with the current time frame for certifying results and said it was an oversight in the bill that could be corrected by the Legislature.

He described the additional changes as minor and said they are either connected to the requirement for the photo identification or seek to further strengthen election law.

If voters are being asked to include their driver’s license number or a copy of their photo identification with their absentee ballot, as the proposal would have them do, then it makes sense that the bipartisan team would be asked to collect the ballots from drop boxes to provide a greater level of security, Titcomb said.

“It’s strengthening the integrity of the election process and adding a layer of defense,” he said.