AUGUSTA -- Challengers seeking to stop the people's veto of a new tax reform law asked Monday for a list of the 56,107 names the state certified.

But the state says no such list exists.

The challenge -- the opening legal skirmish over signatures on the people's veto -- began Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Phyllis Gardiner, an assistant attorney general representing Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, said it's up to the challengers to prove the state made mistakes when it certified more than enough signatures for the people's veto.

"We do not have a database that lists each name," she said. "That's why it is truly impossible for the Secretary of State to create the list they are looking for."

John Paterson -- the attorney representing Charles L. "Wick" Johnson III, who filed suit last week against Dunlap -- said they were given a list of 61,000 signatures but have no way of knowing which ones were approved and which were not.

Each petition sheet -- there are 9,955 of them -- notes which ones are valid and which ones were thrown out, Gardiner said.

The complicated and cumbersome process of certifying petition signatures -- which begins in local town and city offices and continues with the state -- will be a central issue in a legal challenge that will determine whether voters get to decide the fate of a new tax law.

In June, Gov. John Baldacci signed a law that lowers the top marginal income tax rate from 8.5 to 6.5 percent for those making under $250,000. It creates a second tier at 6.85 percent for those who make more than $250,000. In addition, it eliminates deductions and exemptions by replacing them with a credit system that Maine Revenue Services estimates will lower the income tax for 95 percent of Mainers.

On the other side of the ledger, the law expands the sales tax to dozens of additional goods and services, such as car repairs and movie tickets. It increase the meals and lodging tax, the tax on candy, the tax on prepared food, the tax on rental cars and the tax on liquor served on-premises.

Republicans who opposed the plan launched a people's veto over the summer and turned in their signatures in September to call for a June vote.

After a delay he said was caused by a lack of staffing, Dunlap ruled Nov. 9 that backers of the people's veto had a sufficient number of signatures to qualify for the June ballot.

Another major issue in the court challenge will be whether the decisions by local officials can be trumped by a federally mandated central voter registration list, Paterson said.

Johnson, of Hallowell, alleges in the suit that Dunlap's office made mistakes by certifying signatures that were duplicates, were from voters not registered in Maine and contained invalid notary signatures.

It's the second legal challenge to Dunlap in recent weeks, following a complaint by Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster that, because Dunlap missed the deadline to certify the signatures, he lost all power to examine them.

That case will move forward as well, but Justice Donald Marden denied a request to consolidate the cases.

Marden has until late December to issue a ruling in the Johnson case.

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@centralmaine.com