The Arkansas Supreme Court today ruled that the initiated act (Issue 7) to allow medical marijuana failed to qualify for the ballot for deficiencies in signature gathering and votes on it will not be counted.

It disallowed more than 12,000 signatures, enough to leave the petition drive 2,465 signatures short of the 67,887 needed.

anddissented from the decision, written by

That leaves a single medical marijuana initiative on the ballot Nov. 8, a constitutional amendment that would allow for-profit dispensaries regulated by the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division.

Melissa Fults, who worked several years on the effort on a shoestring, said on Facebook after the ruling that they would seek a rehearing from the court, but these are rarely granted. She added:


At the moment, we are still reeling. …. Until we have more information, please continue to vote for both issues. We can not allow them to railroad us with big money. We had volunteers work tirelessly with little or no money. Yet, they can bring in nearly a million dollars and buy their way to the ballot and buy us off the ballot.

Here’s the opinion

Kara Benca, a supporter of decriminalizing marijuana, filed the lawsuit challenging the petitions. Supporters of the act noted that her complaint relied on information developed by backers of the marijuana amendment, a political fact that could discourage some marijuana supporters for voting for the remaining Issue 6.


The Court ruling today did not follow findings of Special Master John Robbins, a retired judge who heard challenges to signature validity. He’d disqualified 2,087 signatures, but accepted the remaining ones, enough to qualify for the ballot. But the final decision went to the Supreme Court.

Benca raised six arguments about technical compliance with new state law on canvassing requirements. A key argument challenged 8,620 signatures, which she said should be disqualified because they were gathered by paid canvassers and they had not met rules set out for paid canvassers, including required State Police background checks. The special master said it was undisputed that most canvassers were volunteers. He said he couldn’t determine how many of these signatures fell under that category and accepted them all.



The Supreme Court determined that 7,580 signatures were disqualified because the organizers had either failed to perform background checks or performed them after they said they’d been done. It disqualified the other 1,040 because they were either collected by paid canvassers who’d not been disclosed or the signatures were gathered before the canvassers were disclosed to the secretary of state. The court said the law interpreted paid canvassers to include those with whom an agreement exists to pay money. The Supreme Court determined that 7,580 signatures were disqualified because the organizers had either failed to perform background checks or performed them after they said they’d been done. It disqualified the other 1,040 because they were either collected by paid canvassers who’d not been disclosed or the signatures were gathered before the canvassers were disclosed to the secretary of state. The court said the law interpreted paid canvassers to include those with whom an agreement exists to pay money. The court threw out another 3,329 signatures for not having a residential address of the canvassers — some gave no address, some a PO box, some a business address.



The court threw out another 155 signatures where the canvasser supplied a date before a voter signed. The court threw out another 155 signatures where the canvasser supplied a date before a voter signed. The court rejected a challenge of some 2,200 signatures on petitions where canvassers didn’t properly check a box meant to indicate if the canvasser was paid. It also rejected a claim that about 2,000 more signatures hadn’t been witnessed by canvassers. The court said no evidence to support that argument had been produced. Advertisement

In all, needing 67,887 signatures, the Supreme Court found that its disallowance of 12,104 signatures left the petitions 2,465 short, at 65,412 valid signatures.

The dissent noted the special masters’ finding that most canvassers were volunteers and didn’t expect to be paid. Baker’s opinion took sharp aim at that finding on a segment of votes that were key to disqualifying the measure.

Baker wrote: