Pubdate: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 Source: Statesman Journal (Salem, OR) Copyright: 2012 Statesman Journal Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/QEzJupzz Website: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/427 Author: Peter Wong MARIJUANA PROPONENTS FILE LAWSUIT Ballot Initiative Treated Unfairly, They Say Two sides are headed for a legal fight over a second ballot initiative to legalize marijuana. A lawyer for the measure's advocates argues that the secretary of state is disqualifying a disproportionate number of signatures. Their lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court seeks to reinstate petition-signature sheets, so officials can sample whether there are enough valid signatures for the measure to qualify for the Nov. 6 general election. "We believe there are a lot of problems with their validity check," said Ross Day, a lawyer in Portland who normally represents conservative causes. But in this case he is representing Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement and Robert Wolfe of Portland, the measure's chief petitioner. A spokeswoman for Secretary of State Kate Brown said a preliminary batch of petitions submitted two months ago turned up duplicate signatures and even forged ones, such as one for a news reporter who did not sign in the first place. "A large percentage of signatures that came in (during the early submittal) were duplicates or triplicates," said Andrea Cantu-Schomus, Brown's spokeswoman. "There were lots of people who were not registered to vote." Because of the sampling formula, duplicate and triplicate signatures are weighted beyond their actual numbers and subtract from the number of valid signatures. She said some material has been turned over to the Oregon Department of Justice for further investigation. Lawmakers tightened legal requirements for signature sheets in 2007 and 2009. There is some urgency in the dispute. Oregon's general election ballot has to be made final at the end of August, except for the presidential nominees of the two major parties, whose conventions are at the end of August and the start of September. As of Monday, two legislative referrals and four initiatives have qualified for the Nov. 6 election. Among them are a different marijuana-legalization measure, proposed bans on real estate transfer taxes and commercial gillnetting in the Columbia River, and a constitutional change to allow private casinos in Oregon. The measure proposes to amend the Oregon Constitution to legalize marijuana use by adults. Unlike another legalization measure that already has qualified for the statewide ballot, this one is silent on whether the state can regulate marijuana cultivation or sale through state-licensed stores. The measure would allow the Legislature to regulate it in connection with children and public safety. Advocates say it sidesteps a potential legal challenge to the other measure as conflicting with federal law. It requires 116,284 valid signatures. But when advocates submitted more than 100,000 signatures by an early deadline of May 25, a sampling by state officials verified 63,804, leaving advocates 52,480 valid signatures short of the minimum. "You mean to tell me that 40 percent of our signatures were bad?" Day asked. "That would be unbelievable that they would be that far off." Advocates did submit 54,333 more signatures by the final deadline July 6. Virtually all of them (96 percent) would have to be declared valid for the measure to qualify, and officials first indicated they would not even sample the second batch. It's a decision they have since reversed. The sampling went forward as of Monday, after officials completed verification work on another measure. "Without them actually doing a sample, we have no way of knowing where we stand," Day said. Day said some of the disqualifications tossed out entire petition-signature sheets "for reasons that belie common sense." One example he gave was of slightly erroneous dates on the sheets, which were approved for circulation on Nov. 4, 2011. One petition circulator wrote "Feb. 1, 2011," when he meant 2012. "There is no physical way that circulator could have signed that in 2011 unless he mastered time travel, and I'm going to bet he didn't," Day said. The signature-verification process and the sampling formula have withstood several challenges in court, including prominent initiative activists Bill Sizemore in 2002 and Kevin Mannix in 2010. Still, Day said, the current lawsuit by the marijuana-legalization advocates raises many of the same questions conservative groups have harbored about the state's procedures. "Politics makes strange bedfellows, they say - and I think this case certainly falls within that cliche," Day said. [sidebar] Second initiative makes ballot A second initiative regarding marijuana use already has qualified for the Nov. 6 ballot. The measure would legalize adult use of marijuana and give the state power to regulate its cultivation and sale. The measure would allow commercial sales only through state-licensed stores, with 90 percent of taxes going into the state general fund. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom