Supreme Court Upholds Gun Rights for Marijuana Users
A recent challenge to the validity of signatures supporting a ballot question to repeal legal marijuana sales in Massachusetts has been filed with the State Ballot Law Commission. The challenge, brought by Dorchester resident Kevin Gilnack, claims that many of the signatures are not genuine, were obtained fraudulently, or do not match the official voter registration records. Gilnack also alleges that some signatures are from individuals who are not registered voters in the specified city or town, and that some signers have since requested their names be removed from the petitions.
Specifically, Gilnack objects to the fact that some signatures are not exact copies of the official forms, and that some contain “extraneous marks.” If the challenged signatures and petitions are disqualified, the proposal would not have the required 12,429 additional signatures needed to appear on the November ballot.
The chair of the committee behind the marijuana ballot question, Wendy Wakeman, has expressed confidence that the signatures and petitions will withstand the challenge. “We fully expect to prevail and look forward to bringing the issue to the voters in November,” she said.
The State Ballot Law Commission is set to hold hearings on the challenge on July 15, with additional hearings scheduled for July 16 and 17 if necessary. This is not the first challenge the proposal has faced, having already survived two previous challenges this year, including one over the Attorney General’s summary of the proposal.
