A Massachusetts commission has rejected an effort to remove a marijuana legalization repeal initiative from the November ballot, clearing the way for voters to decide the fate of the proposal in just a few months.
The State Ballot Law Commission issued the decision Tuesday finding that marijuana legalization advocate Kevin Gilnack failed to demonstrate that enough petition signatures should be disqualified to prevent the proposal from qualifying.
The objection questioned signatures on several grounds, including allegations that some were forged, collected through fraud or did not sufficiently match voter registration records. It also disputed petitions containing stray markings or differences in paper size, color, wording or formatting.
Following a hearing last week that included testimony from a forensic document examiner and handwriting expert, the commission invalidated four signatures because they lacked required address information. The panel declined to throw out additional signatures based on claims involving authenticity, illegibility or extraneous markings.
Gilnack also attempted to submit affidavits from voters who alleged that their signatures had been obtained fraudulently. The campaign supporting the repeal initiative objected because those voters were not identified in the original challenge, and the commission declined to consider the affidavits.
The initiative would repeal laws allowing licensed recreational marijuana sales and home cultivation while maintaining limited possession protections for adults. Massachusetts’ medical marijuana program would remain in place.
Massachusetts voters approved recreational marijuana legalization in 2016 with 53.6% support, and the state’s first licensed adult-use stores opened in November 2018.
A recent poll found that 63% of residents oppose repealing the state’s adult-use marijuana law, compared with 20% who support doing so and 8% who are undecided.
