Pubdate: Sat, 09 Apr 2016
Source: Foster's Daily Democrat (Dover, NH)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mYsCsdPU
Website: http://www.fosters.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/160
Author: David Sharp, Associated Press

MAINE JUDGE REVIVES REFERENDUM TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A judge on Friday gave a victory to supporters 
of a referendum aimed at legalizing marijuana by overruling a 
decision by election officials to reject thousands of signatures.

The same judge who upheld Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap's 
decision to reject a casino referendum proposal because of invalid 
signatures on Thursday revived the campaign to put the proposal to 
legalize marijuana for recreational use on the November ballot.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol disputed Dunlap's 
rejection of 26,779 signatures because the signature of the notary 
didn't match the signature on file.

On Friday, Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy reversed the 
decision, ruling it was "unreasonable" for the state to require that 
the notary's signature must be identical.

David Boyer from the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol said 
the secretary of state now must review the disputed petitions, but he 
viewed that as a formality. He said at least 15,000 of the disputed 
signatures are valid, enough to meet the threshold of 61,123 
signatures for the ballot.

"We're operating as if we're going to be on the ballot," he said.

There was no immediate response from the secretary of state's office.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like turned in 99,229 signatures 
on Feb. 1, but only 51,543 of the signatures were deemed to be valid. 
The secretary of state rejected 5,000 petitions containing more than 
26,000 signatures because the signature of the notary didn't match 
the signature on file.

Murphy said it's unreasonable to assume that a notary signs the 
document precisely the same way, saying the requirement was vague and 
subjective, and creates an undue burden.

"Requiring a notary's signature to appear identically on every 
petition signed is unreasonable and abridges the constitutional right 
to a (referendum)," she wrote.

If the proposal appears on the ballot, then Maine would be one of 
several states considering marijuana legalization proposals. 
Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., already 
have made recreational use of marijuana legal for adults.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom