Pot likely won’t be on ballot
Organizers collecting signatures of registered Oklahoma voters for a law allowing recreational marijuana might miss the deadline to have a statewide vote in November.
If Green the Vote collects at least 124,000 valid signatures by Aug. 8, they can virtually guarantee a spot on a future ballot. However, certain
administrative and legal requirements stand in the way of a relatively quick decision and could delay a vote until the next statewide election 16 months later.
The absolute latest that Gov. Mary Fallin can add questions to the November ballot is Aug. 27, which leaves just a few weeks for the inner-workings of state government to handle the initiative petition process for State Question 797. Once the signatures are collected and turned in to the secretary of state’s office, they have to be counted.
Secretary of State James Williamson said Monday that his office would have to hire employees, train them and have them count the signatures, which could take two weeks.
He would then notify the Oklahoma Supreme Court that the petition’s signatures are certified, then await a response.
“That usually takes eight to 10 days,” he said.
After that, state law requires the organizers to publish public notices in a newspaper and wait 10 business days in case someone wants to challenge the signatures. If there is no challenge, only then could State Question 797 be placed on a ballot.
“It’s highly unlikely under the normal process for this to be on the November election ballot, and if there’s a protest filed, then it’s virtually impossible,” Williamson said.
A protest would throw the petition into court, with legal challenges taking months to resolve. The Aug. 27 deadline imposed by state law is there to give election officials time to prepare ballots for overseas and out-of-state voters.
Along with the recreational cannabis petition, Green the Vote is also collecting signatures for State Question 796, which would place medical marijuana in the Oklahoma Constitution rather thanjuststate statutes.
Green the Vote President Isaac Caviness estimates that if he turns in signatures by Aug. 8, the government could certify the questions and call for a vote with three days to spare.
“I understand it is a very tight schedule, but it is possible,” Caviness said.
The campaign has almost enough signatures to meet the minimum requirements, but Caviness said his goal is 150,000 per petition.
“If we fall short of getting the signatures needed, this is all for naught,” he said.
Williamson met with reporters Monday to describe the certification process, with hopes that it could pre-empt backlash from voters.
“Our process is an administrative process,” he said. “We’re just doing what the law tells us to do, and we’re not making any other judgment calls except whether the signature is legible.”