Arkansas Court Disqualifies One of the Two Medical Marijuana Ballot Measures

The Arkansas Supreme Court has disqualified Issue 7, the second medical marijuana proposal in Arkansas. Some 142,000 voters have already voted early or mailed in early ballots. Luckily, voters still have one other medical marijuana proposal that is still on the ballot.

Issue 7 was disqualified because 12,000 signatures were suddenly found to be invalid, even though they were approved by election officials weeks ago, according to ABC News. The report says that the supporters of Issue 7 failed to comply with laws about registration and reporting paid canvassers. After the 12,000 signatures were disqualified, the proposal comes up short 2,500 signatures of meeting ballot inclusion requirements.

A bit of controversy came about after two justices disagreed with the opinion to disqualify the proposal. Their concern comes from a retired judge reviewing the petition and noting that more than enough signatures had been collected.

Interim Chief Justice Howard Brill said, “The people should be permitted to vote on the initiative on November 8, and their votes should be counted.”

Arkansas Surgeon General, Greg Bledsoe said, “Honestly, at this point in the stage, 12 days before the election, it sounds kind of strange, but I actually kind of wish it would have gone to the voters and let them vote it up or down at this point.”