CALAIS – A group hoping to bring a tribal racetrack casino to Washington County is paying people to circulate petitions that would put the proposal out to statewide referendum in November.

The Washington County Tribal Track Coalition group was in Calais on Wednesday signing people up to collect signatures.

They will pay $2 for all validated signatures. Or they will pay $2.50 per signature for 400, or $3 per signature for 700 gathered in a week. The signatures must be collected in Washington County.

Time is of the essence.

Collectors need to return the petitions by Thursday, Jan. 19, organizers said.

The coalition hopes to secure between 5,000 and 7,000 signatures from Washington County in the next 10 days. The group has been gathering signatures statewide since last year. To expedite the statewide process, the coalition has hired National Voter Outreach, a Carson City, Nev., firm that specializes in voter initiatives and referendums.

To make the November ballot, supporters must submit 50,519 signatures to state election officials by Jan. 30.

Passamaquoddy state tribal Rep. Fred Moore has been pushing for a racetrack casino, known as a racino, to be built Down East. Because the tribe hopes to build the racino in Washington County, spokesman Peter Martin said, it was appropriate that some of the signatures come from here.

“We anticipate that we are going to hit our mark, and right now we look at what we’re doing as the cushion,” he said. “We want to make sure we have enough headroom between our gross and our net. And we always keep the pressure onto the 11th hour even if we feel that we have more than enough signatures.”

There are rules. Signature collectors must be registered to vote in Maine. They also have to make certain the petitions are correctly filled out.

Passamaquoddy tribal member Gary Moore was at the meeting. He said he planned to gather signatures at Pleasant Point, near Eastport. He said he had friends who would collect signatures at Indian Township, near Princeton.

Last June, the House voted 97-48 and the Senate 21-11 to put the tribal racino proposal out to a statewide referendum in November 2005. The Legislature then adjourned, leaving Gov. John Baldacci with the option of vetoing the bill in the opening days of this month’s session or allowing the bill to become law. He vetoed the bill earlier this month.

Although Baldacci vetoed the measure, legislators still are looking at other options.

While the legislative options continue to play out, the tribe’s citizens initiative is continuing. If the measure gets before voters, the question of a racino Down East will appear on the same ballot as Baldacci, who is running for re-election this year.

For more information about the signature collection program, call John Mitchell at 454 -7587 or John Marchese at 454-7111.