MARIJUANA PETITION BACK ON THE BALLOT

Dispute Over Signatures Is Moot, Judge Rules

An initiative to legalize marijuana for medical purposes was ordered
on the November ballot by a Denver judge Friday, but an appeal to the
Colorado Supreme Court could take it off again.

"It is my view that the matter should be certified," said Denver
District Court Judge Herbert Stern, who listened to testimony about
the validity of the petitions. "Let the chips fall where they will."

The marijuana petition thus becomes the third petition to make the
Nov. 3 ballot without adequate verification of signatures. Two others
made the ballot by default when the Secretary of State's office failed
to check the signatures within the 30-day time limit. This is the
first year any unverified petition has made the ballot.

Secretary of State Vikki Buckley had rejected the medical marijuana
petitions after her staff checked a random sample of the signatures.
She said that sample indicated there weren't enough signatures.

Backers of the marijuana petition challenged the decision, saying the
signature counts were sloppy and inaccurate. They checked the rejected
signatures and found more than 200 to be valid.

In court Friday, Morey Knaizer, the state attorney representing
Buckley's office, acknowledged that there were errors in the secretary
of state's signature count. The secretary of state's office hires
dozens of temporary workers to check signatures against voter rolls.

"It is surprising to me that an issue of this magnitude should be
limited to 30 days and getting temporary workers," Stern said.

Knaizer said he would file an appeal with the state Supreme Court on
Monday.

The ballot must be finalized next week and sent to the printer. If the
high court rules against the marijuana petition, it may be too late to
take it off the printed ballots. In that case, the votes on the
measure won't be counted.

"This means we can get on with the campaign," said Martin Chilcutt of
Coloradans for Medical Rights, petition proponents. "I'll go out now
and call the many people with AIDS and cancer that have been
supporting us."

Laurie Gaylord Simco, a temporary worker hired to validate signatures,
told the Rocky Mountain News this week that the crew checking the
marijuana petitions had little training or supervision.

Buckley was questioned about Simco's statements on the witness stand
Friday. She told Ed Ramey, attorney for the marijuana backers, that
the temporary workers were given pamphlets and brochures explaining
the process.

Simco also said some of the temps didn't understand the criteria for
rejecting signatures. When they finished the checks, Simco said an
elections staff member told the crew that the random sample was faulty
and told them to start a line-by-line count. That count was never completed.

On the stand, Buckley said she wasn't aware of the problem with sample
or that a line-by-line count had been started.

"Her facts were mixed up," Buckley said of Simco's comments. "She
worked on several petitions. She did not ever come to me with any
concerns about the medical marijuana petition signatures."

Stern cut short Buckley's testimony on the checking process. After
deliberating for about an hour, he said election laws set a 30-day
time frame for the checking and, if it's not completed, the issue must
be certified.

Knaizer had argued that the line-by-line count should be done even
though it couldn't be completed in time for this year's election. He
said if there are enough signatures, the issue can go on the 2000 ballot.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry