Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2012
Source: Republican, The (Springfield, MA)
Copyright: 2012 The Republican
Contact: http://www.masslive.com/contactus/
Website: http://www.masslive.com/republican/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3075
Author: Dan Ring
Cited: No on Question 3 http://votenoonquestion3.org/

MASSACHUSETTS ELECTION GUIDE SENDS VOTERS TO SITE THAT MOCKS 
OPPONENTS OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Secretary of State William Galvin's annual voter information guide 
contains an Internet address for opponents of medical marijuana that 
distorts and mocks the stands of opponents, possibly hurting their 
long-shot effort to defeat the ballot question.

Opponents have only themselves to blame for the error, according to a 
spokesman for Galvin, who published the guide and began mailing it 
last week to each household in the state. The guide includes the web 
address that was submitted by opponents to Galvin's office.

"That was the site for these people when the book was published," 
said Brian S. McNiff, a spokesman for Galvin.

Foes of medical marijuana established the address for the web site 
but failed to register the address, or domain name, to establish 
ownership. In order to retain legal rights to the name, the name must 
be registered with an organization and an annual registration fee must be paid.

A satirist and supporter of medical marijuana apparently paid for 
ownership of the site after the guide had been printed and took 
ownership on Tuesday.

The satirical web site is at www.votenoonquestion3.org and that is 
the site in the voters guide.

Dr. James B. Broadhurst, a Worcester doctor and the chairman of the 
"Vote No on Question 3" coalition, said the coalition deserves a fair 
ability to express its views. The coalition is opposed to the ballot 
question that asks voters to legalize medical pot.

"Someone has spent time and effort to hijack that web address and 
sabotage our effort to get our word out," Dr. Broadhurst said. 
Galvin's office has now agreed to post in the Internet version of the 
voters guide a new address that now has been registered by opponents 
and correctly reflects their positions against medical marijuana. The 
new address for opponents is www.mavotenoonquestion3.com .

The 23-page voter information guide includes summaries for each of 
the three statewide ballot questions on Nov. 6. The guide includes 
web addresses for opponents and supporters of each of the questions.

Heidi Heilman, president of the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance, a 
member of the coalition opposing medical pot, said opponents are 
running a grassroots organization and the registration slipped 
through the cracks.

Heilman said the coalition had not posted material on the web address 
that it forgot to register.

Heilman said opponents needed to submit a url, or web address, to 
Galvin's office well before they created a formal organization.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom