Gerard Caron walked into the Auburn Post Office and was met by a woman with a pair of clipboards.
"This petition is against gay marriage and this other petition is to support gay marriage," she said, according to Caron.
The Poland man said he asked her why there would be a petition to support something that already happened, referring to the petition "in support of" gay marriage.
"She just kinda gave me a little grin and didn't say anything," he said.
Then he looked at the two petitions and discovered they were identical, both were supporting the repeal of the same-sex marriage law, Caron said.
Caron said he spoke to a friend who had a similar experience at the Lewiston Post Office.
Julie Flynn, deputy secretary of state, said her office has received calls from people concerned about the petitioning process, but not a surprising number.
"It's a buyer beware situation for the voter; they really need to be sure of what they are signing," she said. "But people can say what they want, it's a First Amendment issue. We don't have anything in law that allows us to monitor or enforce signature gatherers."
Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union and a leader of the coalition seeking to maintain the same-sex marriage law, agreed petitioners have a right to free speech."They can say anything they want to say. It's just unfortunate that they are suggesting that signing the petition would mean you were a supporter of same-sex marriage when in fact, it's the opposite," she said.
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