Challengers allege fraud in signature collection for marijuana repeal

The proposed ballot initiative to repeal adult-use recreational marijuana faces a new challenge.

Challengers of the proposal filed an objection Jan. 2 with Secretary of State William Galvin’s office. The State Ballot Law Commission plans to hold a pre-hearing conference on the objection Jan. 12 and a hearing Jan. 13.

The objection is centered around concerns about how signatures in support of the proposed ballot initiative were collected, Thomas Kiley, an attorney leading the challenge, told the News Service.

“Paid signature gatherers at Trader Joe’s in Hanover, Market Basket facilities in Plymouth, Whole Foods in Weymouth and in parking lots around Gillette Stadium in Foxborough have misled voters with respect to what they were signing and thus obtained signatures fraudulently,” the objection states. 

“Among the misleading statements were assertions that the law proposed on the petition blanks they were signing would get fentanyl off the streets, provide affordable housing in their communities or fund public parks,” according to the objection. “Each of these assertions would be apt with respect to one or more of the other initiative petitions approved by the Attorney General, but have nothing to do with Initiative Petition 1E.”

The objection asserts paid signature gatherers often gave only the backside of the petition to voters whose signatures they obtained. The backside doesn’t bear the summary of the proposed law, the objection adds. 

Wendy Wakeman, chair of the ballot committee backing the ballot proposal, stood firm behind the signature gathering, saying they were “collected with integrity” and by trained professional signature gatherers.

“We stand by the number,” Wakeman said.

The state elections division certified 78,301 signatures for the petition in December. The petition needed at least 74,574 certified signatures to proceed in the process. 

Wakeman said opponents to the ballot proposal have raised concerns about signature collections for months and said that it is predictable that they would issue an objection.

She is confident the proposal will stay on track to the 2026 ballot.

Galvin addressed the objection on Tuesday afternoon, as his office delivered boxes of ballot questions to the State House. 

“The objectors are based on the people who now are in retail cannabis businesses,” Galvin said. “They’ve got to come up with enough signatures knocked off to disqualify the petition. It has to be based on evidence, it can’t be assertions. So it’s going to be a challenge.” 

“You’re talking tens of thousands of signatures, to come up with enough that are going to be disqualified in a short period of time, because the Ballot Law Commission is time limited, 10 days, I think. So good luck. I hope they have a nice time,” Galvin added.