A lawmaker from Maine has been charged with forgery and providing false information on campaign finance documents from last year.
Rep. Randall Hall, R-Wilton Maine Legislature photo
On Wednesday, an Oxford County grand jury indicted Rep. Randall Hall, R-Wilton, on 12 counts, including 10 counts of aggravated forgery, unsworn falsification, and a criminal breach of the Maine Clean Elections Act.
The indictment states that Hall forged signatures on 10 forms meant to affirm qualifying contributions from donors, which are mandatory for candidates seeking public funding for state office through the clean elections program.
He is also alleged to have falsely claimed that the signatures were indeed those of the individuals they were supposed to represent.
These acts violate the Maine Clean Elections Act, as per the indictment.
House Speaker Ryan Fecteau has requested Hall’s resignation, as confirmed by Fecteau’s spokesperson, Victoria Foley, on Thursday evening.
Attempts to reach Hall for comments on the charges via phone or email were unsuccessful.
The Maine Clean Elections Act provides a voluntary program for candidates for state office to gain public financing for their campaigns. To qualify, candidates need to demonstrate baseline support by gathering a certain number of $5 qualifying contributions and formally documenting these contributions with properly signed forms.
Upon receiving clean elections funds, candidates are prohibited from taking private contributions, and nearly all goods and services procured must be financed through these public funds.
Hall, who is serving his fourth consecutive term as a state representative, successfully qualified for this funding in the years 2018, 2020, and 2022.
During his campaign for 2024 reelection, he reapplied for public campaign funding, needing to collect 60 qualifying contributions of $5 each from voters within his district.
However, staff at the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices rejected Hall’s application after detecting inconsistencies in the signatures submitted by contributors, as stated by the commission’s executive director, Jonathan Wayne, in an email.
Wayne also mentioned that his office referred this matter to the Office of the Attorney General for further investigation and only learned of Hall’s indictment when contacted by the press on Thursday.
Each year, around 200 candidates for the Maine Legislature participate in the clean elections initiative. The commission diligently examines the qualifying paperwork of all participating candidates as well as their reported expenditures, according to Wayne.
Furthermore, roughly 20% of legislative candidates undergo audits by an external auditor.
Wayne noted that instances of fraud or misuse of public funds in the clean elections program are extremely rare. When serious misconduct is uncovered, it is referred to the attorney general’s office.
Earlier this week, the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee narrowly approved a bill to eliminate the signature requirement for donors who contribute in cash, with a 7-6 vote.
Sponsor of the bill, State Sen. Rick Bennett, shared that he has participated in the clean elections program during his last three electoral campaigns, explaining that collecting signatures for this additional form can be cumbersome.
“I am deeply committed to the integrity of this program, but I believe there must be a more efficient method to ensure signature accuracy than requiring individuals to sign twice,” Bennett stated in his written testimony. He noted that during his last campaign solicitation, “at least half of the returned forms contained errors that needed to be corrected.”
