The Vickey Buckley Case

The case of Vickey Buckley is important for every citizen in Colorado because it illustrates how your rights are at risk by elected officials with their own extreme political agendas. Unfortunately this is not the only case.

Vickey Buckley was the Secretary of State in Colorado in 1998 when the medical marijuana ballot initiative petitions were submitted. Vickey Buckley, as Secretary of State, had sworn to uphold the Constitution of the State of Colorado when she took office.

After the medical marijuana initiative petitions were submitted to the Secretary of State's office, Vickey Buckley, a Republican, decided to hide enough of the petitions in her office to prevent them from being counted and prevent the initiative from being voted on. First she ruled there were not enough signatures to put the initiative on the ballot. After a court ruled that it should be put on the ballot. Then right before the election she ruled that even though the initiative was on the ballot, that the votes would not be counted. Later after her untimely death and after the election had been subverted, the stolen petitions were found and the criminal acts were made public.

The courts ruled that the initiative should be placed on the next election ballot in 2000. The citizens of Colorado voted to approve this initiative in 2000 and the law went into effect in June of 2001.

However, the threats to the rights of the citizens from unscrupulous public officials committed to using their official powers to undermine your constitutional rights has not ended. In the same year that Vickey Buckley subverted the election the voters in Washington DC voted to approve medical marijuana by over 70%. However, right-wing Rep. Bob Barr, another Republican, introduced legislation in the Congress to forbid Washington DC from counting the ballots using any tax money. Later a court overruled the legislation.

Vickey at the NRA

Colorado's initiative was disqualified by Colorado Secretary of State Vicky Buckley just before the election, though it remained on the printed ballots. In the 15% of polls that did report votes, the initiative appeared to be passing by a comfortable margin. Meanwhile, the decision is being challenged in court by the initiative's sponsors, who say it is likely the initiative will re-appear on the ballot in the next election.  Full Story

"This is similar to an occurrence in Colorado, where in 1998 a medical marijuana amendment was on the Colorado ballot but Secretary of State Vicky Buckley did not count the votes because she said there were not enough valid signatures on the petitions. After her death, boxes of petition sheets were found in her office and a recount of all the signatures initiated by proponents proved the state made a mistake. A judge then ordered the medical marijuana question be placed on the ballot again on Nov. 7. Previously, it was known as Amendment 19, but when the Colorado court judge placed it on the ballot it was labeled Amendment 20, and people across the great state of Colorado, were asked to vote 4:20." Full Story

"In 1998, medical marijuana was on the Colorado ballot, but Secretary of State Vicky Buckley did not count the votes because she said there were not enough valid signatures on the petitions. After her death, boxes of petition sheets were found in her office and a recount of all the signatures initiated by proponents proved the State made a mistake. A judge then ordered the medical marijuana question be placed on the ballot again, Nov. 7."  Full Story

October -- Colorado voters learn, after her untimely death, that Secretary of State Vicky Buckley had "made a mistake" by keeping the initiative from being counted. Donetta Davidson, who succeeded Buckley in July, found 66 petitions that hadn't been counted in Buckley's office. Her staff reviewed the signature count and found that more than 2,500 had been improperly disqualified by Buckley's staff. She said the initiative had 253 more signatures than the 54,242 needed to make the November 1998 election ballot. Full Story

"After the rally there was a march to the Adam's Mark hotel. Colorado's secretary of state, Vicky Buckley, told the crowd that parents who sent their children to schools that failed to teach the difference between right and wrong had committed 'a new-age hate crime'. 'Amen,' some people replied." Full Story

*Colorado's initiative was disqualified by Colorado Secretary of State Vicky Buckley for insufficient petition support just before the election, though it remained on the printed ballots. The initiative's sponsors successfully sued the State for improper disqualification, and Colorado will now pay a large portion of campaign costs for a new initiative in the 2000 election. Following Ms. Buckley's death this year, several dozen signed, unchecked petitions in a drawer of her desk.

**In the weeks before the November 5, 1998 elections, Congressman Robert Barr (R-Georgia) added an amendment to the District of Columbia appropriations bill which forbade using District funds for any initiative that lessens the current criminal penalties for marijuana. Because the ballots had already been printed, District residents voted on Initiatve 59 anyway, and the Barr amendment was interpreted by the board of elections to preclude tallying the votes.

The results of the vote were finally made public in late September, 1999. As predicted by exit polling during the election, Initiative 59 passed by nearly 70% of the vote. However, Congress is unlikely to allow cancer and AIDS patients to use marijuana without the threat of arrest in the federal government's own back yard. It is expected that Congress will exercise it's right (according to the District's charter) to nullify any initiative approved by District voters. Full Story

"Employees of Secretary of State Vikki Buckley say they never completed a line-by-line recount of 88,815 signatures on a proposal to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana - contrary to what Buckley told the Colorado Supreme Court." Full Story

"Holliday says he occasionally thinks of his lost friendship with Colorado's secretary of state and feels sorry that she has been criticized. "But," he says, "Vikki knows that people are not going to touch her. She once said to me, 'Nobody's going to touch me, because I'm a black female Republican.'" Full Story

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