Signature trickery hearing set - Anti-gay-marriage petition drive fraud
By Bronislaus B. Kush and Kathleen A. Shaw, Worcester Telegram & Gazette | October 5, 2005
BOSTON - The state Legislature's Joint Committee on Election Laws will hold a hearing later this month to investigate charges that contractors hired to gather signatures for a 2006 ballot initiative that seeks to make it easier to purchase wine at supermarkets used bait-and-switch tactics and other trickery to get voters to sign a petition that would ban same-sex marriages in the Bay State.
"For the second time in four years, out-of-state groups have hijacked the initiative petition process by paying signature gatherers by the signature and using blatantly deceptive tactics to mislead voters," said state Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr. of Worcester, the Senate co-chairman of the panel. "This is a perversion of our democratic process and it must be stopped."
The hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Statehouse.
The decision to hold the hearing came after the state attorney general's office, the Telegram & Gazette and others began receiving complaints from residents complaining they were duped into signing petitions aimed at reversing the 2003 ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court allowing same-sex marriages.
Complaints continued to flow yesterday into the newspaper and to local and state election officials from irate individuals who believe they were tricked into signing the anti-gay wedding initiative.
State officials said complaints have been reported from Worcester, Natick, Brookline and Danvers. The T&G has received some phone calls and e-mails about it from throughout Central Massachusetts.
"We must get to the bottom of these allegations and enact legislation to protect voters and hold those who perpetrate fraud accountable," Mr. Augustus, a Democrat, said.
The KnowThyNeighbor.org organization, which also has raised the issue of possible fraud in how signatures were being collected for the anti-same sex marriage petition, is urging those with complaints to contact Nicholas Paras at the state attorney general's office.
Mr. Paras contacted KnowThyNeighbor.org to get its assistance in investigating the allegations, according to Tom Lang of Manchester-by-the-Sea, a founder of the organization.
Complainants said they thought they were signing a petition to allow more supermarkets to sell wine. They said they were asked to sign the same petition a second time, but instead signed a petition circulated by VoteOnMarriage.org, a group seeking a constitutional amendment that would clearly define marriage as an act between a man and a woman.
Officials believe the allegations do not involve efforts to collect signatures in the parishes of the Diocese of Worcester. That petition drive is being coordinated by local parishes through Catholic Citizenship and the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.
KnowThyNeighbor.org supports same-sex marriage and has been monitoring the activities of the VoteOnMarriage drive. KnowThyNeighbor announced that it would post on the Web the names and addresses of all who sign the petition after the petitions are certified and become a matter of public record in mid-December.
"Mr. Paras will be scrutinizing the reports of bait-and-switch and other improprieties that have been streaming in to the AG's office through KnowThyNeighbor.org and other sources," Mr. Lang said.
This year, Mr. Augustus and state Rep. Anthony W. Petruccelli, D-East Boston, House co-chairman of the elections panel, introduced a bill that would strengthen anti-fraud safeguards in the initiative petition process.
The measure also would increase public disclosure requirements regarding the financing of petition campaigns.
The bill, Senate 2158, would make bait-and-switch fraud - deceiving a voter about which petition is being signed - punishable by a fine of $1,000 per offense.
The legislation also would require the state Secretary of State's office to label each signature sheet with a distinctive letter in several places to distinguish the petition from others.
It also would prohibit paying signature-gatherers by the signature, which many believe entices petition circulators to get signatures through fraud.
State officials said passage of Senate 2158 would have prevented the petition abuses that allegedly occurred recently.
"It is important to let the voters' concerns be heard and for members of our committee to work together to make the initiative petition process as fair and as secure from fraud as possible," said Mr. Petruccelli.
Worcester City Clerk David J. Rushford said yesterday he has received complaints from local residents who are incensed that attempts were made to get them to fraudulently sign initiative petitions.
Officials advised people who believe they were tricked into signing petitions to immediately contact their local city or town clerks or registrar of voters.
Complainants must appear in person and present identification when asking that their names be removed from the petition.
In Worcester, Elections Commissioner Craig A.J. Manseau said people should write letters to the Election Commission, asking that their names be removed from the petition.
"It must be in writing," he said.
Mr. Manseau said they should specify which petition they believe they signed. The same-sex marriage ban petition is denoted by state officials by the letter K.
The Worcester Election Commission, as of yesterday, had received eight petitions regarding the same-sex marriage ban.
State officials said 65,825 certified signatures are needed to get a question on the ballot.
Those who want to lodge complaints with the state should contact Mr. Paras, a civil investigator with the AG's office, 1 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108; 1-617-727-2200, ext. 2883, or by e-mail at nicholas.paras@ago.state.ma.us.
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