To vote or not on rec pot
Whether Arkansas voters will decide if they want to legalize recreational marijuana, and whether their votes count could be decided as soon as Thursday, an attorney said.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has tweeted how he would vote on the issue of recreational marijuana in Arkansas.
Hutchinson plans to vote no on what he said will be Issue 4 on November ballots.
"The science is clear. Recreational marijuana leads to increased drug use among minors & more dangerous roadways," Hutchinson tweeted. "This November, I’m voting NO on Issue 4 to legalize recreational marijuana in Arkansas and I hope you’ll join me."
Whether his vote, or anyone's vote counts is yet to be determined.
The Arkansas Secretary of State Tuesday sided with the state Election Board stating the ballot title is insufficient for November ballots, according to reports.
A declaration from Secretary of State John Thurston Tuesday states that since the election board deemed "the ballot title and popular name" insufficient to be on November ballots, the secretary of state's office agrees. The declaration states that the proposed ballot measure is insufficient for inclusion on the ballot for the election at which the statewide initiative petition or statewide referendum petition would be considered.
The legalization of recreational marijuana will be on ballots, but the Arkansas State Supreme Court has not announced whether the votes will count.
A decision could come from the Arkansas Supreme Court as early as Thursday, an attorney representing the group that circulated the initiative petition reported.
Steve Lancaster has been the attorney representing Responsible Growth Arkansas that submitted the petition with signatures. The number of signatures required was about 89,000 and more than 192,000 signatures were turned in.
"We're still waiting on an opinion from the Arkansas Supreme Court," Lancaster said Tuesday.
The group submitted plenty of required signatures of registered voters to get the question on the Tuesday, Nov. 8 ballots. But the Arkansas Election Commission struck down the ballot title, resulting in an appeal by the group to the State Supreme Court.
A decision has been expected to come by the end of September.
Lancaster explained that the recreational marijuana question moving forward is being referred to as "Issue 4."
"The Supreme Court will make the ultimate decision as to whether our votes could count," Lancaster said.
Meanwhile, in Missouri, voters will decide if recreational marijuana will be legal when they go to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 8. The issue has been approved for voters to decide Amendment 3 in Missouri. Missouri could become the 20th state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana. Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas voters have legalized medical marijuana.
Arkansas voters legalized medical marijuana in 2016 and Oklahoma voters in 2018.
In Oklahoma, State Question 819 has been submitted, but it is not clear if State Question 819 proposing legalization of recreational marijuana will be on November ballots.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Will Arkansas voters vote on recreational marijuana in November?
