Dunlap said his office will now move forward with a review of the signatures on the petitions, to verify that they were made by registered Maine voters. Under Maine ;aw, 62, 123 voter signatures are needed to qualify for the ballot.

Concerns were raised by Dunlap in a March 2 determination about variations in the signatures of the notaries who validated the signed petitions in the referendum campaign.

However, Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy ruled on April 8 that Dunlap erred when he made that decision. Murphy’s ruling puts the burden back on Dunlap’s office to verify individual voter signatures against voting records.

“We will, as expeditiously as possible, conduct this inquiry with the goal of issuing a new determination that will endure all scrutiny; if sufficient signatures are validated, there should be no reason at that juncture for the people to be uneasy about the legitimacy of these petitions,” Dunlap said in a statement. “As I stated when our decision was released on March 2, it is not our goal to invalidate the signatures of registered Maine voters.“Our goal is that our review of valid signatures expresses manifestly the expectations of the Constitution that only Maine voters circulate instruments of petition, that only Maine voters affix their signatures to those instruments, and that the oath taken by each circulator is properly administered by those empowered to ascribe oaths. We only validate or invalidate signatures based on those core elements.”

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol filed the court appeal of Dunlap’s determination that 26,779 of the signatures collected were invalid because of concerns about the signatures of the notary. Dunlap said that left the campaign with only 51,543 valid signatures. The campaign had turned in 99,229 signatures on Feb. 1.

The appeal focused largely on the determination that about 17,000 of the 26,779 signatures were invalid for the sole reason that the signatures of notary Stavros Mendros varied and didn’t match what is on file with the secretary of state.

The legalization bill would allow adults to possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana and ti cultivate a limited number of plants. Retail stores and social clubs would be allowed with municipal approval. Adults would be prohibited from using marijuana in public, with violations punishable by a $100 fine. The bill also would place a sales tax of 10 percent on retail marijuana and marijuana products.

If Maine were to legalize recreational marijuana, it would join Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., in allowing adults to buy and possess the drug. All have passed laws legalizing recreational marijuana despite that marijuana is still illegal on the federal level.

Legalization proposals are expected to be considered this year in Nevada, California, Arizona, Michigan, Massachusetts and Vermont.

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Supporters of a voter initiative for marijuana legalization in the state of Maine, failed to collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the state ballot.

Petition gatherers for the initiative delivered 51,543 valid signatures – about 9,500 below the threshold, according to the Maine Secretary of State office on Wednesday. However, he office found 47,686 invalid signatures.

Wednesday was the deadline for the Secretary of State office to validate the signatures. After a casino proposal was denied, and a school funding measure was approved, the failure of the marijuana initiative was the biggest surprise of the day. On February 1, the marijuana campaign had delivered more than 99,000 signatures.

Manager of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, David Boyer, said documents provided by the Secretary of State’s office indicate that more than 17,000 signatures from a single notary were invalidated because the notary’s signature did match the signatures on file.

“We will look at all the options to challenge this,” he said. “We don’t want 17,000 people to be disenfranchised because of a handwriting technicality.”

Rep. Diane Russel, D-Portland,a supporter, said the group will appeal because people deserve a chance to vote on the issue.

She said, “This is about voting rights at its fundamental core, not legalization.”

The campaign now has 10 days to appeal.

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At this moment it looks as though Mainers will be voting on legalization in November. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol turned in more than 103,000 raw signatures for its petition drive. It only need 61,000 valid voter signatures in order to qualify for the November ballot but it’s nearly double.

As a general rule of thumb, initiative and referendum experts counsel petitioners to expect a certain percentage of raw signatures to be deemed invalid , but that figure is usually put around 25% to 30%. In order for this petition to fill, more than 40% of the votes would have to be found invalid. It might not be impossible, but it’s very unlikely that almost half of those votes could be invalid.

According to a poll last spring managed by Critical Insights, a Portland marketing firm, a staggering 65% of Mainers support legalizing the weed, with 79% saying it should be sold in licensed establishments.

The initiative would allow people of 21 or over possess up to 2.5 ounces of pot and grow a limited number of plants in their homes. It would also set up the framework for a tightly regulated system of licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, product-manufacturing facilities, and testing facilities. It will also create rules governing the cultivation, testing, transportation, and sale of marijuana. The initiative would enact a 10% tax on marijuana sales.

“This initiative will replace the underground marijuana market with a tightly controlled system of legitimate, taxpaying businesses that create good jobs for Maine residents,” Boyer said. “It will also make Maine safer by allowing enforcement officials to spend more time addressing serious crimes instead of enforcing failed marijuana prohibition laws.”

State Rep. Diane Russel (D-Portland), a long-time legalization supporter, said at a Monday press conference that Maine is ready to take marijuana “out of the shadows and out of the black market.” She scolded the legislature for refusing to act on legalization, but claimed the state’s medical marijuana program pointed in the right direction. “It tells people we were right all long,” she said. “Maine people really do want a rational policy around drug use. Maine has proven we can regulate marijuana responsibly.”

The push for legalization in Maine got of to a bumpy start, with two initiative campaigns that were competing against each other, but the activists were able to overcome acrimony and merge the two campaigns, leading to the unified effort that appears to walk the state down the path to legalization.

So far, only four states; Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington – all in the west, have legalized it. Washington, DC, legalized possession and cultivation, but not sales and distribution. If the initiative makes the ballot and passes, Maine will become the first state east of the Mississippi to legalize it.

However, Vermont is moving toward legalization through the legislative process. That bill has won a first committee vote, but its prospects for passage this year are uncertain. Massachusetts could well end up voting for legalization this year as well. Whether is is Maine, Vermont or Massachusetts,a combination of the above, New England is becoming a real hotbed for reefer reform this year.

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