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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom