An interest group lobbying for the legalization of medical marijuana is suing one of Florida’s largest counties after reports emerged that their favored constitutional amendment was nowhere to be found on some ballots.
The Florida chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) last week said it would file suit against the Broward County Commissioner of Elections, which oversees balloting in the county home to Ft. Lauderdale. That city’s Sun Sentinel newspaper reported that some voters did not have Constitutional Amendment 2 — the marijuana legalization measure — on their ballots.
“The plaintiff’s are seeking a judicial declaration enjoining the Defendant’s from distributing any further ballots, and implementing an emergency plan to issue new ones which insure the inclusion of the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot,” the organization said in a statement.
A number of states are voting on marijuana propositions in November, most prominently California and Florida. The constitutional amendment in the Sunshine State must earn 60% support to go into effect. A similar medical marijuana initiative in 2014 failed ever so closely — earning only 58% support.
It is unclear how many ballots were affected in Broward County.
“We can’t find a copy of a ballot that does not have the marijuana issue on it,” Anne Sallee, a former local government official who was one of the people with a ballot error, told the Sun Sentinel.
