"This is not a question about what will cause more harm or what won't," Tobias said in an interview. "That's not why I filed my complaint. I filed my complaint because the ballot questions were not on the ballot, and that hasn't been addressed."

Attorneys for both sides will meet Monday with Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh to set a timetable for an injunction hearing--on the larger issue of whether the conduct of the vote was constitutional.

The Superior Court could simply certify the case and send it to the SJC, Massachusetts' highest court.

Rep. John E. McDonough (D-Jamaica Plain), the chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Election Laws--which first approved the bill allowing Connolly to provide the paper summaries--said he had not anticipated the constitutional challenge.

"This is new legal terrain not just for the state of Massachusetts but, as far as we know, for any state," he said yesterday.

McDonough declined to give his opinion on the constitutionality of the vote, though he acknowledged that voting irregularities took place.

"The alarming thing is, this could drag on for a considerable period of time," he said. "It's mess.