 There are currently four states where cannabis advocates have submitted signatures that they hope will be enough to qualify for adding cannabis legislation to the November ballot for voters.
Because signatures must be verified, and often many do not qualify, petitioners attempt to collect far more than is needed, in the hopes that the final qualified number of signatures will be enough to get their initiatives on the ballot. The group Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws announced that they had turned in over 164,000 signatures, which is far more than the nearly 95,000 required. They are hoping to put a proposal on the ballot for adult use recreational cannabis, allowing home cultivation, and a regulated retail market. Their measure would also expunge prior convictions. On Friday, the group Responsible Growth Arkansas submitted just over 190,000 signatures to their Secretary of State’s office for another recreational adult use proposed measure. They were only required to submit 89,000 valid signatures, so with more than 100,000 extra, they hope to have met that goal. In addition to adult use, their measure also wants to expand the state’s existing medical cannabis access program by increasing the total number of licensed dispensaries and by eliminating certain taxes. Also on Friday, the group Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana turned in over 90,000 signatures each for a pair of medical cannabis legalization measures. They only had 3,000 “extra” signatures, so they will be stressfully awaiting the final number of validated signatures to see if they will get their measures on this November’s ballot. And yesterday, in North Dakota, the group New Approach ND announced that they had turned in 25,762 signatures to Secretary of State’s office, which is roughly 10,000 signatures above the number of signatures necessary to qualify for their November ballot. They are hoping to see adult use recreational cannabis legalized as well. In addition to these four states who are waiting for confirmation to see if their measures will make it to vote, there are already some other states who have succeeded in the same process. Both South Dakota and Maryland have already had confirmation for legalization measures that will be on this November’s ballots in their respective states. And one more state with potential for November voting, Missouri, is still up in the air. The group Legal Missouri 2022 turned in more than double the required signatures. However, so far the tabulations are showing an inadequate number of signatures for four of the six Congressional districts needed, which could keep the measure off of their state’s November ballots. Comments are closed.
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