CAN INITIATIVES INCLUDE DIGITAL SIGNATURES?

In its quest to legalize marijuana in Oregon, the Campaign for the
Restoration and Regulation of Hemp has embraced technology to stay a step
ahead of the initiative system.

In 1996, in its first attempt to put an initiative on the ballot, the
group's Web site was the first in the state to offer petition forms that
could be downloaded. Four years later, back for its third try, the campaign
is the first in the country to gather signatures on the Internet.

Not so fast, elections officials told the group. The state won't accept
electronic signatures, insisting it is legally and technically impossible
right now.

So the marijuana campaign sued Secretary of State Bill Bradbury in Marion
County Circuit Court last week to try to force him to accept the
signatures -- putting Oregon at the forefront of an emerging digital debate
that has been all but settled in the business world by states and Congress.

There's little question that in business, digital signatures are here to
stay. Paul Stanford, a chief petitioner of the marijuana plan, says they
make sense in the initiative world, too.

"They're a lot less prone to fraud, and you don't have to hire paid
petitioners," he said. "We think federal law is on our side. It mandates
acceptance of these signatures."

The lawsuit puts the state in the middle of an uncharted elections issue
that is gaining steam across the country. Supporters of digital signatures
say technology can make the initiative system cheaper, faster and safer --
and elections offices must catch up with the times.

"Digital signatures are the wave of the future," said M. Dane Waters,
president of the nonpartisan Initiative and Referendum Institute in
Washington, D.C. "With the increase in technology, it's inevitable that
digital signatures will be used in place of almost any paper signatures."

Bradbury is just as optimistic about the potential of digital signatures --
in the future. He says digital signatures on Oregon petitions probably will
be approved after online voting hits the state -- in about five years, he
thinks -- and when state officials are convinced online elections are
secure.

"It's a really big jump now to say you should sign your name on a mouse
pad," he said.

But petitioners such as Stanford see no reason to wait. Signatures gathered
online are safer and more reliable than signatures gathered on the streets,
he says. On a Web site, more information can be collected about a person,
such as a phone number, e-mail address and Internet connection data.

The technology also is good for voters, said Scott Flaxman, founder and CEO
of Ballotdirect.com, a year-old company leading the charge to bring online
signature-gathering to initiative campaigns.

"Voters can actually read what they're asked to sign," he said. "It gives
voters the opportunity to digest information from the comfort of their own
homes."

Waters says digital signatures can help lower campaign costs. Most
initiatives in Oregon will not make the ballot without using paid signature
gatherers, who are earning as much as $2 a signature as the July 7 deadline
approaches.

"Digital signatures would go a long way in allowing the average individual
to put a measure on the ballot," Waters said.

Flaxman would not reveal how much the company would charge campaigns for its
services but said it would be cheaper than hiring paid petitioners. The
company's first client -- the marijuana group -- is not being charged.

Stanford's Web site links voters to www.ballotdirect.com, where they can
sign the marijuana proposal after registering their name and address. They
use a mouse to write their name on screen.

The result is a rough, shaky version of a signature, which Bradbury sees as
a big obstacle.

Elections officials verify signatures by comparing them to voter
registration cards. A mouse-generated signature probably won't replicate a
signature on paper, so there's no way to ensure the same person signed both,
he says.

Flaxman wants to allow voters to submit two signatures -- one created on
paper, one by computer.

Stanford -- whose initiative would, among other things, allow liquor stores
to sell marijuana and let the state tax it -- says his group has collected
more than 67,000 signatures on paper and another 100 by computer. The
initiative needs 66,786 valid signatures to qualify for the Nov. 7 ballot.

Oregon is among 46 states that recently have passed laws validating digital
signatures. Oregon's law, adopted in 1997, is designed to promote electronic
commerce in business and government. Earlier this month, Congress approved a
federal law giving online signatures the same weight as pen-and-paper
signatures. President Clinton is expected to sign the bill.

The legal question facing Oregon is whether the state's digital signature
law applies to elections. No provision specifically bars or allows digital
signatures on petitions.

Waters, who supports the use of digital signatures, says the lawsuit is on
shaky legal ground. States can create rules regulating the initiative
process, such as the size of petition sheets, if they do not infringe on
constitutional rights.

If Oregonians want a different policy, they'll have to push for a new law,
Waters said.

"Legislatures don't like the initiative process," he said. "And they are not
inclined to do anything to make the process easier."