AUGUSTA – Activists seeking to initiate legislation to outlaw slot machines in Maine have fallen short in their effort to gather enough signatures to force a referendum on the proposal this November.

But a spokesman for the group, No Slots for ME!, said it expects to try again in hopes of putting the measure on the ballot in November 2008.

“We view this as an ongoing fight” that will not come to a head this year as originally planned, Doug Muir said.

Muir gave no indication of how many voter signatures the group had collected, saying it was “hard to put a number on it.” The minimum needed is 55,087, or 10 percent of last year’s gubernatorial vote, which must be submitted by Thursday’s deadline.

The campaign is seeking to halt the operation of slot machines at Hollywood Slots in Bangor and prohibit any future slots facilities from starting up.

Last week, the Secretary of State’s Office ruled that the Passamaquoddy Tribe had gathered enough signatures to place its proposal for a tribal racino in Washington County on the Nov. 6 ballot.