Michigan Supreme Court Next Stop For Marijuana Campaign
The MI Legalize campaign is running short on time and legal options.
Michigan Supreme Court.
The campaign to legalize marijuana in Michigan now hopes the state Supreme Court will order the question onto the November ballot.
A state Court of Claims judge just dealt the campaign a setback. He ruled state elections officials were simply following the rules when they rejected petition signatures gathered outside a 180-day window. That’s supposed to ensure that only the signatures of currently registered voters are counted.
Jeff Hank is an attorney for MI Legalize. He says that rule disenfranchises thousands of people who signed petitions.
“We are losing our ability to participate in our own government and our voices are being silenced, and they’re being silenced unfairly,” he said following the ruling.
Hank says it would be easy for elections officials to check the names against Michigan’s electronic database of registered voters.
Hank and MI Legalize are asking the Michigan Supreme Court to bypass the state Court of Appeals and take the case in time to get the question on the November ballot.
Time is growing short because even if MI Legalize gets its signatures approved, the question has to sit before the Legislature for 40 days before it can be placed on the ballot.
