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Votes for Arkansas ballot measure on medical marijuana will not be counted, court rules

Votes for Arkansas ballot measure on medical marijuana will not be counted, court rules

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Monday that voters will not be allowed to weigh in on a ballot measure to expand medical marijuana in the state, arguing that the initiative failed to fully explain what it entails. In a 4-3 decision, the justices threw out the initiative just two weeks before the election, according to The Associated Press. It is too late to remove the measure from the ballot, as early voting began on Monday, so the court instructed election officials not to count any votes on the initiative. The proposed constitutional amendment would have expanded the definition of medical professionals who can certify patients for medical cannabis, added qualifying conditions and made medical cannabis cards valid for three years. The court ruled the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 did not fully inform voters that it would have removed the authority of the state Legislature to change the 2016 constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana in the state. OLDER AMERICANS TURN TO MARIJUANA FOR BETTER SLEEP AND PAIN RELIEF: HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW “This decision doomed the proposed ballot title, and it is plainly misleading,” Justice Shawn Womack wrote in the majority opinion. The court also said the initiative did not inform voters that the amendment would legalize up to an ounce of marijuana possession for any purpose if marijuana were legalized at the federal level. Organizers of the initiative said in court filings that the ballot measure did cite the number of provisions that would be repealed and argued that previous court rulings said measures did not need to summarize the current law that would be amended. Justice Cody Hiland said in a dissent that the court was ignoring decades-long precedent by ruling the measure’s language was misleading. “Long ago, this court established definitive standards for evaluating the sufficiency of popular names and ballot titles,” Hiland wrote. “This court has not deviated from those standards until today.” The court also rejected election officials’ reasons for ruling the measure’s organizers fell short of the signatures needed for placing the measure on the ballot. EARLY IN-PERSON VOTING BEGINS FOR ALASKA, ARKANSAS, CONNECTICUT, IDAHO, NORTH DAKOTA, SOUTH CAROLINA, TEXAS Arkansans for Patient Access, the group behind the measure, said it would continue its push to expand the medical marijuana program and that the signatures it gathered displayed widespread support. “We are deeply disappointed in the Court’s decision,” the group said in a statement. “It seems politics has triumphed over legal precedent.” The group filed a lawsuit after Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston said it fell short of the signatures required to qualify for the ballot. The issue over the ballot measure’s language was raised by Protect Arkansas Kids, a group that opposed the measure and intervened in the case. Thurston’s office had refused to count some of the signatures submitted, claiming the group had not followed paperwork rules about paid signature gatherers. Earlier this year, the state rejected petitions submitted in favor of a pro-life ballot measure on similar grounds. In July, the state said the group had fallen short of the required signatures for the medical marijuana measure but qualified for 30 additional days to circulate petitions. The state then told the group that any additional signatures gathered by paid signature gatherers would not be counted if required information was submitted by the canvassing company rather than the measure’s sponsors. The court said Monday that this decision was wrong, arguing that state law allows a wide range of people to be considered sponsors of the measure. Other groups had been campaigning against the measure, even as it was unclear whether it would be on the ballot next month. The Family Council Action Committee announced last week it planned to launch a statewide tour opposing the measure. “A measure this bad simply has no business being on the ballot or in the constitution,” the committee’s director, Jerry Cox, said after Monday’s ruling. About half of U.S. states allow recreational marijuana and a dozen more have legalized medical marijuana. In November, voters in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults, while two measures on medical marijuana will be on ballots in Nebraska. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Liz Cheney predicts ‘millions of Republicans’ will vote for Harris: ‘Vote your conscience’

Liz Cheney predicts ‘millions of Republicans’ will vote for Harris: ‘Vote your conscience’

Liz Cheney teamed up with Vice President Kamala Harris Monday in a last-minute effort to appeal to moderate Republicans who the former congresswoman believes might be uneasy about voting for Donald Trump but are afraid to say so publicly.  Harris and Cheney visited three counties: Chester County in Pennsylvania, Oakland County in Michigan and Waukesha County in Wisconsin. Each were won by Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination.  During a townhall in Michigan, Cheney framed the November election as a choice between “right and wrong.” TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENDS LETTER TO CBS DEMANDING UNEDITED ‘60 MINUTES’ HARRIS TRANSCRIPT, TEASES POTENTIAL LAWSUIT “I certainly have many Republicans who will say to me, I can’t be public. They do worry about a whole range of things, including violence. But they’ll do the right thing,” Cheney said.  The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney then predicted that “millions” of moderate Republicans who are too afraid to go against Trump publicly will vote for Harris.  “And I would just remind people, if you’re at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody. And there will be millions of Republicans who do that on November 5th, vote for Vice President Harris,” Cheney said, eliciting applause from the audience.  Cheney was essentially exiled from the Republican Party for participating in a congressional investigation of Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, events at the U.S. Capitol.  She lost her congressional seat in a primary battle two years ago.