Final Push Sets Signature Return Deadline of Next Week
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: info@mclu.org
PORTLAND - Leaders of the drive to Repeal REAL ID
announced Wednesday they will be "Defending the Fourth on the Fourth," by
mobilizing hundreds of volunteers for a final push for signatures to repeal the
state's REAL ID law, which violates the privacy rights guaranteed under the
Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
"Defending the
Fourth on the Fourth" will kick off at a Press Conference Wednesday morning at
11 a.m. on the steps of City Hall on Congress Street in Portland.
"With
Independence Day coming, we'd like to assert our independence by repealing REAL
ID," said Kathleen McGee who brought the People's Veto effort. "There's
nothing more patriotic than upholding the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights."
Hundreds of volunteers from Houlton and Calais to
Brunswick, Biddeford and Kittery in every county in the state will be collecting
Repeal REAL ID signatures over the July 4 weekend. Over 550 volunteers in
every county in towns large and small are gathering signatures in this
all-volunteer effort. Reports on Primary Day put the repeal effort at a
third of the way toward the goal of 55,087 signatures, but most volunteers still
have their collections sheets. The Repeal REAL ID Coalition announced that
this would be the last major weekend of signature gathering and urged volunteers
to return petition sheets to the Maine Civil Liberties Union next week,
preferably by July 10.
Additionally, the Repeal REAL ID coalition
has established drop-off locations for volunteers to leave their petitions in
every county in the state. Signatures must be returned to individual town
and city clerks by July 14 for verification. The coalition must then
gather signatures from all of the town clerks for delivery to the Secretary of
the State by close of business on July 17.
"The Fouth of July is an important
time for us to reflect on our Constitutional freedoms, and the protections of
the Fourth Amendment concerning the privacy of Americans against unreasonable
searches," said Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the Maine Civil Liberties
Union. "The REAL ID law paves the way for Maine to have a costly
surveillance system that is not only hugely expensive but that government
studies have already shown simply won't work. REAL ID makes us vulnerable
to bureaucratic error, identity theft and abuse of power by the government on a
grand scale."
The state's new REAL ID compliance law was enacted in April
after threats from the federal Department of Homeland Security that forced the
state to change its driver license process or risk not traveling on airplanes
after May 11. The most significant privacy concern is a requirement that
the state implement biometrics as a requirement for the driver license.
The Department of Public Safety successfully applied for a REAL ID demonstration
grant to fund Digimarc facial recognition technology earlier this spring.
Civil rights advocates are further concerned that new legal status requirements
for the Maine driver license will have a disproportionate impact on the elderly,
low income, and other populations whose vital records have been lost.
Advocates are already receiving numerous calls from Mainers living on the
Canadian border who were born in Canada and only possess a Canadian birth
certificate for example. It is not clear how a Mainer with a Canadian
birth certificate or no birth certificate will prove legal status to the Bureau
of Motor Vehicles. Finally, changes made under the REAL ID law are
considered by the Department of Homeland Security to be good faith compliance
toward implementation of the REAL ID national identification card that would
link Mainers' drivers' license information into a national data base, making
Mainers' personal information less secure.
"It's time to bring this
home," said Chris Miller. "There are volunteers circulating petitions all over
the state. It's time for our volunteers to fill up their petition forms
and get them to their regional drop points." Some volunteers will be
collecting over the July 12 weekend, but the vast majority of volunteers are in
rural areas across the state and are being asked to turn petition sheets into
their county drop-off locations.
Earlier this month Arizona became the
20th state to pass anti-REAL ID legislation. Indeed, Arizona's law, like
Maine's original law, prohibits compliance with the REAL ID Act of 2005.
Efforts to repeal the REAL ID at the national level continue. Arizona,
Alaska, and Idaho all passed anti-REAL ID legislation this year but were
nonetheless granted waivers from the federal program by the Department of
Homeland Security. Senator Susan Collins is being lobbied by a wide array
of national groups to allow repeal of REAL ID to move forward through her
committee. Congressman Tom Allen is the chief sponsor of repeal REAL ID
legislation in the House of Representatives.
Organizations supporting the
people's veto of Maine's REAL ID compliance law include the Maine Council of
Churches, Maine Civil Liberties Union, Peace Action Maine, Immigrant Legal
Advocacy Project, and the NAACP Portland Branch.