Despite the order, the challenge is still making its way through the court, with legal briefs from both sides due tomorrow.
The Arkansas Secretary of State’s office must finish counting roughly 18,000 signatures that were submitted in support of a ballot measure to expand the state’s medical marijuana program, the state Supreme Court ordered, a move that could place the question before voters in November.
Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston earlier this week denied the measure a spot on the upcoming ballot and said his office calculated that the campaign behind the measure – Arkansans for Patient Access – had only submitted about 88,000 valid voter signatures, just shy of the roughly 90,000 needed to qualify.
The campaign immediately sued, arguing that thousands of signatures collected during a 30-day cure period were improperly rejected. The state Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction requiring Thurston’s office to count roughly 18,000 signatures he had previously said were not allowed because they’d been improperly filed, KUAR reported.
The Wednesday order from the court granted the campaign’s request for an expedited review and said Thurston is “ordered to immediately begin verifying the (~18,000) remaining signatures submitted during the cure period until the 90,704 threshold or just beyond is met.”
The signatures in question, collected by paid signature gatherers, were disqualified by Thurston’s office because representatives of the canvassing company, rather than the ballot measure sponsor, signed off on and then filed them, which is against state law, Thurston’s office said.
The order gave Thurston a deadline of noon on Friday to file a notice of compliance with the court. Legal briefs from both sides are due by 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.
If the measure does wind up being approved by voters, it would expand the existing medical cannabis industry by increasing the number of qualifying medical conditions for eligible patients to purchase marijuana, up the number of health care providers allowed to write patient recommendations, and legalize home cultivation.
The campaign follows a failed ballot measure in 2022 that would have legalized recreational marijuana.
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