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Maine Supreme Court Upholds GOP Candidate’s Disqualification For Invalid Signatures

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has reaffirmed a lower court’s decision that invalidated the candidacy of Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Max Linn.

Linn, a financial planner who lives in Bar Harbor, had appealed a ruling by Kennebec Superior Court Judge William Stokes, who found that the secretary of state acted appropriately when he invalidated a number of signature petitions submitted by Linn’s campaign.

The secretary of state’s review left Linn 10 signatures short of the 2,000 he needed to qualify for the ballot. The review was triggered by an appeal by Linn’s would-be primary opponent, state Sen. Eric Brakey of Auburn, who submitted evidence of widespread irregularities, including the signatures of deceased voters.

Ultimately, the secretary of state invalidated 258 of Linn’s original total of 2,248 signatures.

Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said in a statement that it’s too late to scrub Linn’s name from the ballot, but that voters will be notified that he’s no longer a valid candidate at polling places.

Linn has not indicated whether he’ll appeal Tuesday’s ruling in federal court.

This story was originally published May 8, 2018 at 4:21 p.m. ET.

Journalist Steve Mistler is Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent. He is based at the State House.