Mass Marriage Intiative Breaks Records for Signatories/Boston.Com

Petition vs. gay marriage advances
Number of signers breaks state record
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff, December 22, 2005

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/12/22/petition_vs_gay_marriage_advances/

Backers of a constitutional ban on gay marriage in Massachusetts have shattered a 20-year-old record for the most certified signatures ever gathered in support of a proposed ballot question.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin this week certified the signatures of 123,356 registered voters, nearly twice as many as the number required to get on the ballot.
Supporters of the ban said their effort shows that gay marriage is still a burning issue among thousands of voters, and legislators should pay heed. . .

Opponents of the ballot question say . . .it shows that paid signature-gatherers were particularly effective at tricking unsuspecting voters into signing a petition they didn't support.

. . .Marc Solomon, political director of MassEquality, a coalition of local and national gay rights groups, said he has no question that the amendment will survive challenges, given the sheer number of names gathered.

. . . Prior to the gay marriage question, the most signatures ever gathered were in support of a 1985 question calling for the end of a surtax on the state personal income tax. That question got 110,645 certified signatures, Galvin's office said.
Late yesterday, the pro-gay marriage website, Knowthyneighbor.org, posted all 123,356 names of those who signed the petition, as well as their home addresses. The database is searchable by first name, last name, home town, and ZIP code, and offers visitors a ''fraud affidavit" to use ''if your name is listed and you believe you were a victim of petition fraud."

. . .Tom Lang, a spokesman for Knowthyneighbor.org, said his organization also plans to post the signers' political party affiliation by weeks' end, and later, other data such as home sale prices.

Mineau, of the Massachusetts Family Institute, said the Internet tool will mostly be used to harass those who backed the ballot question. . .
posted by maggie at 12:07 PM | link

1 Comments:

At 12/23/2005 3:14 AM,  John Howard said...

They should start dealing with a vote in 2008. they have had a strategy of contesting signatures for years now, we know that lots of people signed the thing just to contest it later. just let us vote. what are they afraid of? that we will think that same-sex procreation is unethical and unnecessary? that there are more pressing needs to spend our research dollars on? same-sex couples do not have a right to procreate, and we will affirm that in 2008.

 

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