A commission in Massachusetts has overruled an objection to nomination signatures supporting an initiative petition that seeks to repeal the state’s adult-use recreational cannabis laws. The State Ballot Law Commission found that the objector, Kevin Gilnack, did not meet the burden of proof to disqualify enough signatures to scrap the initiative petition.

Background

The committee behind the ballot question filed 12,551 certified signatures with the Secretary of State’s office, exceeding the required 12,429 signatures. Gilnack, who filed the signatures challenge on behalf of the Stop the Repeal campaign, contended that numerous signatures were obtained through fraudulent means, were not genuine, were illegible, excluded required addresses, or included stray marks.

The commission declined to disqualify 231 signatures that Gilnack argued should be invalidated due to stray marks, stating that the marks appeared mostly on the back of the petitions and did not present voters with any information. The commission also declined to invalidate 99 signatures that Gilnack contended were non-genuine, as he did not provide substantial evidence to support his claim.

The commission did, however, invalidate four certified signatures that did not include necessary addresses or had incomplete addresses. This decision marks the second challenge to the initiative petition’s nomination signatures that it has survived.

Original reporting: NBC10 Boston — read the source article.