|
DC
Board
of
Elections
Rejects
Medical
Marijuana
Petitions
--
Admits
One
of
Seven
Valid
Signatures
Ignored
but
Refuses
to
Correct
Error
8/9/02
(press release from the
Marijuana
Policy Project)
The Marijuana Policy Project
(MPP) is considering its legal options after the Washington, DC, Board
of Elections and Ethics (BOEE) refused to correct its erroneous omission
of thousands of valid signatures for Initiative 63, the Medical Marijuana
Initiative of 2002.
"The Board has acted capriciously
and unfairly," said MPP Executive Director Robert Kampia. "We presented
clear evidence of massive errors by the Board's staff, but the Board refused
to use its discretion to uphold the will of DC voters."
Initiative petitions must
contain valid signatures from five percent of the District's registered
voters, and that total must include five percent of voters from at least
five of the city's eight wards. There is no dispute that the more
than 18,000 signatures accepted by the Board met the citywide requirement,
but the BOEE claimed that MPP had presented enough valid signatures from
only four of eight wards. In Ward 4, the board claimed MPP fell approximately
100 signatures short.
But MPP's review of the Board's
work found that massive numbers of valid signatures had been falsely ruled
invalid. An analysis of nearly 4,000 allegedly bad signatures found
that at least 15 percent were clearly valid.
Kampia and MPP Director of
Government Relations Steve Fox met with Registrar Kathy Fairley prior to
the Board's deliberations and presented her with the results of the MPP's
analysis. After reviewing a sample of petitions, Fairley agreed that
a large number of perfectly good signatures had been erroneously disallowed
-- and reported that finding to the board.
But rather than owning up
to the massive errors and extrapolating the results of MPP's analysis,
BOEE Chairman Benjamin F. Wilson insisted that MPP must either verify each
and every falsely invalidated signature -- a project that would cost the
nonprofit group approximately 400 person-hours of staff time, on top of
the 100 hours already spent identifying and correcting the Board's mistakes
-- or trust the same staff that made the errors in the first place to recheck
their work.
"This is outrageous," Kampia
said. "Whether out of malice or simple incompetence, the Board screwed
up, and now they insist that our staff and members must shoulder the burden
of fixing their mistakes. That's not acceptable. The Board
of Elections and Ethics fraudulently disenfranchised thousands of District
voters and then refused to take responsibility for its actions. We
didn't pick this fight, but we will win it."
-- END --
|
Issue #249, 8/9/02
Nevada Marijuana Initiative Endorsed by State's Largest Police Group | DC Board of Elections Rejects Medical Marijuana Petitions -- Admits One of Seven Valid Signatures Ignored but Refuses to Correct Error | Democratic Governor Candidate Calls for Repeal of NY Rockefeller Laws | Switzerland Defends Cannabis Decrim, Tells UN Narcocrats to Buzz Off | Which War Am I In? DEA Meth Offensive Continues as US Pilots in Afghanistan Gobble Speed | Libertarian Party Launches TV Ad Campaign Targeting Rep. Bob Barr on Medical Marijuana
| Drug Czar Picks Beer-Promoting NASCAR Hot Rodder to Carry Anti-Drug Message | School Anti-Drug Programs Get Failing Grade, Study Says | Drug Dog Terrorizes Native American Kindergartners in South Dakota, Lawsuit Filed | Newsbrief: South Dakota Lakota Successfully Harvest Hemp Crop | Newsbrief: Peru Backs Off on Coca Eradication, Again | Newsbrief: Radical Party Moscow Activists Go to Trial for Marijuana Legalization Rally -- Free Speech at Heart of Case | Newsbrief: Federal Judge Deems Utah Asset Forfeiture Initiative Constitutional | Newsbrief: Canadian NAFTA Suit Over Hemp Restrictions Enters Arbitration | Newsbrief: More than One Million in Drug Treatment in US, SAMHSA Says | Newsbrief: Budget Woes Close Detox, Treatment Facilities in NC, Iowa | Newsbrief: Stiffer Ecstasy Penalties Would Hit Penn State University | Newsbrief: Study Finds THC-like Chemicals Useful for Certain Disorders | Newsbrief: Archeological Evidence of Bronze Age Drug Trade | Web Scan: Narco News, Nature, Cato | Legislative Alerts: Rave Bill, Medical Marijuana, Higher Education Act Drug Provision | The Reformer's Calendar
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