Proposed Arkansas marijuana, gambling amendments advance toward November ballot

Two ballot questions which, if they succeed, would require local approval for new casinos and loosen restrictions on medical marijuana have cleared a major hurdle in the path to appearing on the statewide November ballot in Arkansas.

Secretary of State John Thurston said in letters to sponsoring committees on Wednesday that he had certified the Local Voter Control of Casino Gambling Amendment and granted the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment 30 days to replace invalid signatures.

The casino amendment would strip the Arkansas Racing Commission’s power to issue a casino license in Pope County and require local popular support for any other new ones in the state. New casino licenses in Arkansas would have to be approved by a countywide vote in the future.

It comes in response to a 2018 voter-approved amendment which authorized several casinos throughout the state without the need for local government approval. The committee is funded by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Its sponsoring committee, Local Voters in Charge, had more than 116,000 verified signatures out of over 160,000 collected total — more than enough to meet the threshold of 90,704 , or 10% of the statewide turnout in the last gubernatorial election.

"We're certainly encouraged by the response that we had across the state and the in the canvassing process," Hans Stiritz, a spokesperson for the committee, said Thursday. "And I think the numbers speak to themselves in terms of voter interest in this issue."

Now that the ballot question is certified, the campaign will focus more closely on getting the finer details of its message out to the public.

"At the canvassing stage, you're not asking people to commit to a particular position one way or the other," Stiritz said. "They're not voting. They're just saying this is a worthwhile issue to actually bring to the state to vote on."

"Now, we're looking at making sure that folks understand exactly what this amendment proposes and clarity on the issue," he said.

Under a recently passed law, committees must also collect 5% of the last gubernatorial turnout from at least 50 of the state’s 75 counties, rather than the 15 counties specified in the state constitution.

Medical marijuana in Arkansas

The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment would allow medical patients to grow cannabis plants at home, allow pharmacists, physicians’ assistants and nurse practitioners to approve medical cards, expand what medical conditions qualify for a prescription and do away with the need to renew medical cards at the end of every year.

The executive director of the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association, Bill Paschall, sits on the board of the committee.

Its sponsor, Arkansans for Patient Access, collected more than 108,000 signatures but the Secretary of State’s count found that only 77,000 of those were definitely valid — not enough to meet the threshold.

But under the Arkansas constitution, if at least 75% of the signatures are valid, then a committee is eligible for 30-day cure period to collect enough additional signatures to qualify.

The committee now has until Aug. 30 to collect the required 13,704 signatures.

A representative for Arkansans for Patient Access didn't respond to a request for comment.

Jaime Land, a representative from the Secretary of State’s office, said on Wednesday that that rate of signatures found invalid in that petition is “pretty standard” and “in line with what we usually see.”

She said that signatures could be invalidated for a handful of reasons, including information being duplicates, illegible, incomplete or not belonging to a registered voter. Some of the signers whose signatures were disqualified could sign the petition again and be counted during the cure period, however, she said.

Several other proposed ballot initiatives, including ones to remove sales tax from menstrual products and diapers and to raise curriculum standards in schools receiving state funds, failed to collect enough signatures to progress.

Another proposed constitutional amendment which would allow for limited access to abortion was rejected by the secretary of state in July over ostensibly incorrect paperwork submitted with the committee's more than 100,000 signatures. An ongoing lawsuit before the state Supreme Court will decide whether the measure will appear on the November ballot.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Proposed Arkansas marijuana, gambling amendments advance toward November ballot