Marijuana on the ballot: how it could impact Mid-Missouri

While the presidential race is on many voters’ minds today, there are a number of other important issues on the ballot that could have a big impact on our state.

Voters in five states will decide today whether to legalize recreational marijuana. Those states include California, Nevada, Arizona, Maine and Massachusetts.

Additionally, voters in four states will decide today whether to legalize medicinal marijuana. Those states include Montana, North Dakota, Arkansas and Florida.

This year, there is no marijuana initiative on the Missouri ballot. The proposal failed to go to Missouri voters due an insufficient number of signatures on the petition.

It was a controversial proposal from the start. New Approach Missouri, the campaign fighting to bring medicinal marijuana to Missouri, submitted about 285,000 signatures to Secretary of State Jason Kander by the May deadline, which is more than the total required. However, back in August, Kander announced that more than 10,000 signatures from the 2nd Congressional District had to be thrown out, which left the group just over 2,000 signatures short.

New Approach Missouri then sued Kander and submitted evidence to a Cole County Circuit Judge saying the signatures were valid. However, the Cole County judge ruled in favor of Kander, saying his office acted properly by invalidating the signatures.