The State Ballot Law Commission on Tuesday overruled an objection to nomination signatures supporting an initiative petition seeking to repeal Massachusetts’ adult-use recreational cannabis laws and ordered the question to be printed on November’s ballot.
In a 16-page decision, the commission found that objector Kevin Gilnack, who filed the signatures challenge on behalf of the Stop the Repeal campaign that opposes the ballot question, “did not meet the burden of proof” to disqualify enough signatures to scrap the initiative petition.
In a seven-page objection filed last week, Gilnack contended numerous signatures were “obtained through fraudulent means,” were not “genuine,” were “illegible,” excluded required addresses or included stray marks. As a result, Gilnack said, the committee behind the ballot question did not file the required 12,429 certified signatures. That marked the final batch of signatures petitioners had to collect after a panel of lawmakers decided that none of the initiative petitions brought before them this year warranted legislative attention.
The committee backing the initiative petition filed 12,551 certified signatures with the Secretary of State’s office, meaning 123 would have to be invalidated to knock the question off the ballot, according to the commission’s decision.
