COUNTIES WON'T SAVE MARIJUANA VOTES

Ruling Stops Attempt To Preserve Ballots For Use After Appeals

Medical marijuana supporters struck out in Denver District Court on Wednesday.

Judge Connie Peterson refused to order county election officials to
preserve votes on Amendment 19 on Tuesday's ballot.

The proposal, which would allow people with debilitating diseases to use
marijuana with a doctor's recommendation, already has been printed on
election ballots.

Despite a state Supreme Court ruling that the vote won't count, measure
supporters want ballots to be saved in case their appeals succeed. That's
what they asked Peterson to do.

Wednesday's legal skirmish is the latest in a running court battle that
started last summer when Secretary of State Vikki Buckley ruled that
petitions contained insufficient voter signatures for the initiative to
make the ballot.

The Denver ruling disappointed Martin Chilcutt, a leader of Coloradans for
Medical Rights who sat through the afternoon hearing.

"I don't have any more money," Chilcutt said in the hallways outside
Peterson's courtroom. He noted his side already has spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars in getting signatures and advertising.

"Coloradans for Medical Rights is broke," Chilcutt said. "It appears that
I'm not going to be funded any further. I don't know where I'm going to go
or what I'm going to do."

The latest ruling didn't disappoint Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan,
who leads the opposition and sat through the hearing. He said it would be
impossible to mount a viable campaign alerting voters to the dangers of the
measure in the few days before the election.

"I'm just baffled by the whole process that this has taken," Sullivan
admitted.

In refusing to issue an order, Peterson noted that attorneys for the issue
already had made a similar request to the Colorado Supreme Court. The high
court still has not issued a decision, but could do so today.

Checked-by: Richard Lake