Missouri’s marijuana ballot push in trouble

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Will you vote on recreational marijuana in 2022? That’s a serious question as the Missouri Secretary of State tallies verified signatures from eight congressional districts.

It needs to represent 8 percent of registered voters in six of the eight congressional districts.

Verified votes are to be turned in by 5 p.m. on July 26.

It’s clear that Districts 1, 2, 3 and 5 have enough signatures.

District 7, which includes Springfield, appears to be short. A direct check with Newton County revealed that the district falls short of the needed 30,013 signatures. The total turned into the Secretary of State is at 29,608, as of Tuesday evening.

Districts 4 and 8 do not appear to have enough votes either.

It will be close in District 6.

The campaign manager of Legal Missouri 2022 previously released a statement in response to earlier spreadsheets which showed a large percentage of signatures being thrown out.

“Having turned in nearly 400,000 signatures from Missourians who want to become the 20th state to regulate, tax and legalize cannabis, we are confident about being on this November’s ballot,” said campaign manager John Payne.

Payne has not commented yet on Tuesday’s numbers.

The petition would allow voters to legalize marijuana for people 21 and older. Revenues would help fund veterans, drug addiction treatment and the public defender system. Non-violent criminal records related to marijuana would be expunged.

A certificate of sufficiency or insufficiency will be issued in early August.