MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS URGE BALLOT REVIEW

Representatives of the Marijuana Policy Project yesterday asked the D.C.
Board of Elections and Ethics to reconsider its decision to keep a medical
marijuana initiative off the November ballot.

This month, the board ruled that the group failed to gather enough valid
signatures to place an initiative on the general election ballot that would
decriminalize the medical use of marijuana. The group's appeal said the
board had made "massive errors" that resulted in the rejection of thousands
of petition signatures. It asked for a review of those signatures.

The group needed to submit 17,455 signatures, which represent 5 percent of
the city's registered voters, and within that pool, had to include 5
percent of the registered voters in five of the city's eight wards. The
election board ruled that although the Marijuana Policy Project passed the
first threshold, it fell 122 signatures short of meeting the 5 percent
requirement in one of the five wards.

Kenneth J. McGhie, the board's general counsel, said the District's
registrar of voters would examine the contested signatures.