Pubdate: Sat, 07 Sep 2002
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2002 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Jim Brunner

MARIJUANA-INITIATIVE BACKERS LOSE ROUND

A judge yesterday rejected a motion by backers of a Seattle pro- marijuana 
initiative to force the city to place it on the November ballot.

Backers of Initiative 75 had sued the city, claiming officials had erred in 
tossing out too many signatures and had failed to adhere to deadlines 
requiring speedy verification of the petitions.

But while King County Superior Court Judge James Doerty had questions on 
why some of the signatures were invalidated, he said it was not clear there 
were enough valid ones to warrant placing the measure on the ballot. Doerty 
also noted that because the lawsuit was against city officials, it had no 
authority over the county, which validates the signatures.

As a result, backers of the initiative are left to scramble to gather more 
signatures and are running out of time to guarantee a spot on the November 
ballot. Signatures have to be certified by the county by Sept. 20 for the 
measure to get on the Nov. 5 ballot.

I-75 would direct the police department to make marijuana offenses the 
"lowest priority" of Seattle police. It would also require the city to 
report all marijuana arrests to an 11-member panel that would report to the 
City Council.

Over the past several months, supporters submitted 29,626 signatures to the 
city, which turned them over to the county elections department for 
verification.

On Tuesday, Julie Anne Kempf, county elections superintendent, reported 
that at least 12,871 of those signatures had been found to be invalid.

Doerty said the county erred if it tossed out all instances of duplicate 
signatures. State law requires that the first signature be kept and the 
rest be invalidated.

Kempf said duplicate signatures were counted two ways: once where one 
duplicate signature was kept and the other where all duplicate signatures 
were tossed. She said even when some of the duplicate signatures were kept, 
the petition fell 357 signatures short of the 17,228 required to make the 
ballot.

Most of the invalid signatures were from people who didn't live in Seattle, 
didn't write down their address or whose names were illegible, she said. 
She said the measure's backers had gathered many signatures at festivals 
such as Hempfest and the Bite of Seattle, where many out-of-town voters 
signed them.

Initiative backers were left fuming. Attorney Patrick Brick said the 
failure to certify the petitions would lead to "wholesale 
disenfranchisement" of "every voter in the city of Seattle."

Doerty yesterday ordered the city clerk to send a report on the petition 
signatures to the City Council, which could choose to place the measure on 
the ballot.

Meanwhile, Dominic Holden, campaign manager for the Sensible Seattle 
Coalition, said supporters would continue to gather more signatures in the 
hopes of getting enough to qualify.
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MAP posted-by: Alex