AG Coakley OKs 23 Ballot Questions For 2012

Most of the proposed questions for the 2012 state ballot have been given preliminary approval.

Attorney General Martha Coakley certified Wednesday that 23 of the 31 initiative petitions filed with her office last month, allowing the petitions to move on to the next round of the approval process.

The certified petitions include questions that would legalize medical marijuana, repeal part the state's health care law, and ban using certain socio-economic factors to determine insurance rates.

Another certified petition would allow limited beer and wine sales in supermarkets. That measure was on the ballot in 2006 but did not pass. Cindy Eid, with the Massachusetts Food Association, says the proposal has been changed to address public safety concerns.

"We're leaving a lot up to the communities to decide: first, do they want them, second, how are they going to regulate them?" Eid said.

Proposals that did not meet constitutional requirements include those aimed at requiring voters to show identification, repealing the state's restraining order law, and legalizing casino gambling in the state.

Petitioners will have three months to collect nearly 69,000 signatures from registered voters to put their questions on the 2012 ballot.

With reporting by The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom