MARIJUANA INITIATIVE SPONSORS SUING STATE

Backers of an initiative to decriminalize marijuana are suing the state to
try to get the measure on the ballot.

Ken Jacobus, attorney for Free Hemp in Alaska, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in
Anchorage Superior Court, arguing the group should be able to get its
initiative before voters despite failing to meet state record-keeping rules.

Earlier this month the Division of Elections said the group had not turned
in enough valid signatures. The division rejected 194 of the group's
petition booklets, citing poor record-keeping.

Jacobus acknowledged the group did not file sponsor accountability reports
with all its petition booklets, which identify the person who circulated
each booklet.

Jacobus said the sponsors' right to petition their government and enact
laws by initiative is a constitutional right that trumps the state's
administrative requirement for sponsor accountability reports.

"When you balance this constitutional right against an administrative
requirement, the constitutional right wins," Jacobus said.

Jacobus also said an employee with the Division of Elections told petition
backers they did not need the accountability reports as long as the person
circulating the petition was a registered voter or an Alaska resident.

Sarah Felix, an attorney for the state, denied that an elections employee
said the reports were not required.

The sponsor accountability reports are necessary to prevent fraud in the
initiative process and are based on statute and regulation, Felix said.

"It's not just some sort of administrative paperwork," Felix said. "It's
the way the state verifies the legitimacy of the initiative signature
booklets."

The requirements were carefully written to comply with U.S. Supreme Court
decisions, she said.