AUGUSTA — A citizens’ activist group is calling for Charlie Summers to resign as Maine secretary of state, saying his serving poses a conflict of interest while he’s running for U.S. Senate.

The secretary of state’s office administers Maine elections, and the Maine People’s Alliance says Summers should resign because of a conflict inherent in overseeing his own election. Summers won the Republican primary last week to run for Maine’s open Senate seat.

A spokeswoman for Summers says he’s turned over all elections oversight to a deputy secretary of state and that Summers “has taken his hands out of it completely.”

Spokeswoman Megan Sanborn also says her research has turned up no other Maine constitutional officer who’s resigned while running for higher office.