Four groups sponsoring statewide Massachusetts initiatives have asked the State Supreme Judicial Court to let them gather electronic signatures. The groups only need another 13,347 valid signatures. Massachusetts initiative procedures provide that if a group collects the signatures of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, the legislature must consider the idea behind the initiative. If the legislature refuses to enact the idea, they then need more signatures, but of only one-half of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote.

In all four cases, the legislature has not enacted the idea, and probably won’t by the early May deadline. So the four campaigns need a relatively small number of signatures to finish the job, but they feel they cannot finish unless electronic signatures are recognized. See this story.