Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jan 2003
Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Copyright: 2003 The Anchorage Daily News
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SNUFFS MARIJUANA DRIVE, RULES HUNDREDS OF SIGNATURES 
INVALID

Juneau (AP) -- Lt. Gov. Loren Leman stopped an initiative drive seeking to 
decriminalize marijuana, ruling Tuesday that hundreds of signatures 
collected were not valid.

Leman, a former state senator who sponsored a bill in 1999 to turn back the 
state's medical marijuana laws, said in a statement that the pro-marijuana 
group will have to begin from scratch to get its measure before voters in 2004.

The proposed initiative would have asked voters to decriminalize and 
regulate marijuana.

Backers submitted 484 booklets containing signatures of Alaskans who 
supported putting the measure on the ballot. But officials with the state 
Division of Elections found several discrepancies in the petitions, Leman said.

In several instances the identity of those who signed the petitions could 
not be verified or were not registered voters, a spokeswoman for the 
Division of Elections said.

Election workers also did not count 194 booklets containing signatures 
because of poor record keeping, the division said.

Tim Hinterberger of Anchorage, one of three primary sponsors of the 
initiative, said Tuesday night that he "more than anticipated" Leman's 
reaction. "We're sure they'd prefer not to see this on the ballot," he said.

Hinterberger said he had not yet seen the details of the decision but 
planned to go over them carefully. "We're absolutely not prepared to give 
up on it," he said.

Alaska law requires a petition drive to collect signatures equal to 10 
percent of the voters in the previous statewide election to get an 
initiative on the ballot.

Backers of the marijuana initiative needed 28,782 signatures to get the 
measure on the 2004 ballot. The state Division of Elections verified 21,737 
signatures of registered voters, said spokeswoman Virginia Breeze.

The lieutenant governor's office said initiative sponsors will have to 
start the petition process again to get it on the ballot.

Daily News reporter Tataboline Brant contributed to this story.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom