Photo by clarissa.stark
A marijuana legalization initiative will be allowed to appear on November general election ballot, the D.C. Board of Elections said in a memorandum opinion and order released today. That is, if the group behind the effort can collect enough signatures from D.C. voters.
The ballot initiative, the “Legalization of Possession of Minimal Amounts of Marijuana for Personal Use Act of 2014,” was introduced by D.C. Cannabis Campaign Chairman Adam Eidinger and proposes legalizing the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana, the cultivation of up to three marijuana plants in one’s home, and allowing residents to give away up to one ounce of home-cultivated marijuana.
After opposition from D.C. Attorney General Irv Nathan, who said that the initiative violates federal law because it contravenes the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, Eidinger made his case in front of the Board of Elections. According to a release, “Board members approved the measure sponsored by the D.C. Cannabis Campaign after finding that it presented a proper subject for initiative under District of Columbia law.”
The Board ruled that “there is no provision in the Initiative that prohibits the D.C. Housing Authority from including the federally-mandated language in its leases.”
So what’s the next step? Well, the Board of Elections will hold a public meeting within the next 20 days to “formulate and adopt the initiative’s short title and summary statement,” as required by law. After that, the D.C. Cannabis Campaign will have to obtain at least 25,000 signatures, with at least five percent of those signatures from five different wards, in order for it to officially be on the ballot come November.
And they’re ready to begin: The D.C. Cannabis Campaign is currently hiring people to collect signatures at a rate of $1 per valid Hancock.
Update: “I’m pretty pissed off at the Board of Elections,” Eidinger tells DCist over the phone. Eidinger is mad that the Board of Elections waited so long to issue a decision, that it’s looking like the D.C. Cannabis Campaign won’t be able to collect signatures from voters on April 1.
According to Board regulations, the D.C. Cannabis Campaign can’t start collecting signatures for their ballot initiative until the Board members comes up with a shorter title and summary statement for the initiative. The Board has up to 20 days to do that, followed by a 10-day comment period after the short title and summary has been established. Eidinger thinks they’re going to take all the time they can to make decision in order to delay collecting signatures.
“We submitted the initiative on January 10, and that seemed like there’d be plenty of time to spare,” Eidinger says, “I feel like they’re going to delay us as long as they can.” In order to make the April 1 deadline, the Board would need to settle on a short title and summary this week, Eidinger says. So far, Eidinger has received about 200 applications from potential signature collectors, who would work for a rate of $1 per scribe. “Roughly about $50,000 is going to go into the pockets of people collecting signatures,” he estimates.
But, if the Board of Elections does take the full 20 days to meet on the ballot short title and summary, Eidinger guesses that they’ll be able to start collecting signatures around April 15 or, more serendipitously, on April 20. Heh.
