COLUMBUS – Backers of a proposed marijuana legalization amendment filed 95,572 additional signatures with the state on Thursday, probably enough to qualify the issue for the Nov. 3 ballot.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
That won’t be official, however, for another week or so until boards of election tally and Secretary of State Jon Husted verifies ResponsibleOhio has at least 29,509 valid signatures of registered Ohio voters. That is the number the marijuana issue fell short on its first submission on July 20.
The group’s validation rate on the first round was 39.7 percent. If that holds true with this batch, it would produce 37,942 valid signatures, enough to cover the shortfall.
ResponsibleOhio needs a total of at least 305,591 signatures to place the issue on the ballot. The group says it had initially submitted more than 695,000 petition signatures and expects to challenge the evaluation of 40,000 signatures it claims were not counted and 20,000 signatures the group says “were improperly invalidated by the Secretary of State’s Office during the initial petition filing,” according to a statement from executive director Ian James.
“Despite some politicians’ games, we look forward to presenting to voters our comprehensive plan to tax, regulate and make marijuana safe in our state,” James said.
The proposed amendment would allow adults 21 and over to buy marijuana and establish a network of 10 authorized growing locations around the state.
The testy relationship between ResponsibleOhio and Husted’s office became more contentious on Thursday as the pro-marijuana group went to Franklin County Common Pleas Court seeking an order requiring Husted to keep his office open after business hours to accommodate filing signatures. While Husted spokesman Josh Eck told The Dispatch that the office would remain open until 11:59 p.m. if necessary, the secretary of state’s office didn’t respond to ResponsibleOhio’s inquiry about the extra hours.
That prompted ResponsibleOhio to send Columbus attorney Donald McTigue to court. As it turned out, the court order wasn’t needed since the signatures were filed at about 5 p.m.