Backers of Maine's marijuana legalization campaign pose with signed petitions. Courtesy of Maine's Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol
Marijuana legalization campaigners qualified for a spot on Maine’s November ballot Wednesday, ending uncertainty after state officials last month denied ballot access because of one public notary allegedly having an inconsistent signature on forms.
The group behind the legalization effort on April 8 won a court ruling forcing the Maine secretary of state's office to individually review petition forms for evidence of fraud, which the office did not allege.
“We are thrilled to finally start transitioning into the more substantive phase of this campaign,” legalization campaign manager David Boyer said in a statement. “It has been a longer wait than expected, but nothing compared to how long the people of Maine have been waiting to end the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.”
The path to the ballot was dramatized by the fact that the one notary had signed forms containing more than 17,000 otherwise valid signatures, which made the difference between the initiative qualifying and not.
In Maine, notaries administer an oath to people who collect petition signatures for ballot initiatives. The canvassers must be state residents and swear to the notary they witnessed every signature be made on petition forms.
Organizers of the legalization campaign say the secretary of state’s office meticulously checked the eligibility of canvassers, going so far as to request employment records for one man, whose landlord then was contacted.
Officials did not, however, contact the notary whose signature allegedly varied on a large number of forms. A spokesperson said they didn’t contact the person because of a crunch caused by other petitions being submitted at the same time.
In a press release Wednesday, the office said an additional 11,305 signatures were found to be valid, putting the initiative over the threshold to qualify for the ballot. In addition to the one notary who signed off on more than 17,000 otherwise valid signatures, the office reviewed forms from four other notaries who collectively had signed off on about 4,000 signatures.
The Wednesday development expands the map for marijuana legalizers at a time of uncertainty caused by the presidential election.
Though the Obama administration has allowed four states to regulate recreational marijuana and many others to allow its medical use, possession of the drug for any reason outside limited research remains a federal crime, and an unsympathetic Justice Department could take aim at the multibillion-dollar state-legal cannabis industry.
In addition to Maine, legalization supporters are hopeful about ballot initiatives appearing on November ballots in Massachusetts, Nevada, Arizona and California.
Vermont legislators, meanwhile, are considering a legalization bill passed by the state Senate and supported by Democratic Gov. Pete Shumlin. Passage of the bill would be a legislative first for states and would come more than two years after New Hampshire’s House voted to legalize pot, before the effort sputtered amid opposition from the state Senate and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.
Steven Nelson is a reporter at U.S. News & World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at snelson@usnews.com.
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