Allegations of election fraud filed against a campaign to end Massachusetts’ $1.65 billion adult-use marijuana market may be difficult to prove.
Even if claims that Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts signature gatherers intentionally misled voters are upheld, they may not be enough to stop cannabis sales from continuing to vote, according to the Statehouse News Service.
Working with state Republican Party staff, the coalition has been trying since last summer to get a measure on the November ballot that would ban the sale of marijuana to adults in Massachusetts.
A bid to end Massachusetts’ adult-use marijuana industry is a legal challenge
If Petition 1E goes to the ballot and is approved by a majority of voters, the sale of medical marijuana will continue, and personal use of marijuana will remain legal.
However, it would represent the first rollback of voter approval of adult marijuana use on the ballot.
The national anti-cannabis organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana recently revealed that it is putting “billion-dollar support” behind the initiative.
But no one has claimed responsibility for the many accounts of campaign workers who allegedly convinced voters to sign petitions by lying to them about what the voting system did.
Did the Massachusetts criminal reenactment attempt commit fraud?
On Jan. 2, Boston attorney Thomas Kiley filed a legal challenge to the question, alleging fraudulent behavior, as reported by Statehouse News.
He applied on behalf of his daughter-in-law, who says she signed the petition thinking it was for affordable housing.
The state Election Law Commission heard Kiley’s objection on Monday.
Kiley was given until the end of business Tuesday to show a “offering of evidence” to support his claims.
Kiley did not respond to a request for comment MJBizDaily.
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Last month, Secretary of State William Galvin’s office approved 78,301 signatures, according to State House News. That’s enough to keep the campaign going.
A total of 3,727 signatures would have to be invalidated to stop the effort. And canceling a signature must be “evidence-based,” Galvin said last week.
In response to Kiley, Patrick Strawbridge, a lawyer for the campaign, sent an affidavit from lead funder Caroline Cunningham, a member of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee.
He denies all “knowledge of any attempt to mislead any potential signatory” and says “at no point were broadcasters instructed to conduct themselves in a misleading or deceptive manner,” StateHouse News reported.
Although critics say the lawsuits show how determined opponents of legal marijuana are to recriminalize the industry, courts have found that misleading voters is an activity protected by the First Amendment.
