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The Colorado Springs community has inched closer to a definitive answer about whether recreational marijuana sales will be permitted in city limits, but elections officials in El Paso County were holding off on issuing a final answer as additional votes still were being tallied, six days after last week’s election.
County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker said on Monday that elections officials are still processing hundreds of additional ballots, including some which require additional steps to address issues including missing signatures or identification checks, as well as military and overseas ballots.
The period for addressing such “cured” ballots, and counting returned military and overseas ballots, ends Wednesday. Schleiker’s office expects to announce updated unofficial results Thursday, after the additional ballots have been tabulated.
Races will not be officially called until the Canvass Board certifies the vote count on Nov. 27.
Two competing ballot questions that propose either banning recreational marijuana establishments by city charter, or authorizing the city’s roughly 90 existing medical marijuana shops to also opt into selling retail cannabis products, were both passing after initial results were reported on Election Day and throughout much of last week.
The vote for the recreational marijuana ban, known as Question 2D, flipped after results were updated Saturday evening.
According to results last updated Saturday at 5:33 p.m., Question 2D is now failing by a thin 1-point margin: 49.50% to 50.50%, with 385,313 ballots — about 77% — counted.
Which means, unless the numbers shift drastically, recreational marijuana will be legal in Colorado Springs.
Daniel Cole, who represents the Colorado Springs Safe Neighborhood Coalition that supported the charter ban, previously told The Gazette that confusing ballot language in the opposing question to authorize recreational sales, Question 300, was likely the reason both competing questions were passing last week. Part of the Question 300 wording read as if it supported restricted marijuana stores when in fact it legalizes them, he said.
Colorado law requires automatic recounts if the margin of victory in a contest is equal to or less than 0.5% of the winning race or question’s vote. Automatic recounts must be completed within 35 days after the election for races conducted by the county.
With a difference of 2,413 votes, according to unofficial Saturday vote totals, Question 2D is not currently within the margin for an automatic recount.
Anyone may request a discretionary recount within 28 days after the election. Discretionary recounts are paid for by the requestor.
Cole said Monday the Colorado Springs Safe Neighborhood Coalition won’t request a recount of Question 2D at its current vote margin. In response to questions about whether the opposition will ask for a recount if results remain close, he said the opposition campaign “shouldn’t close any doors yet, but it’s not likely. Let’s see how the final results look.”
In contrast, the competing Question 300 to authorize recreational marijuana sales has continued to pass by wider margins as counts have been updated in the week since the election. As of Saturday, it is passing 54.64% to 45.36%.
Meghan Graf, a spokesperson for the pro campaign Citizens for Responsible Marijuana Regulation, on Saturday night referred back to statements she made last week that voters in Colorado Springs have shown they want recreational marijuana sales to be legalized locally.
“The city will reap the benefits of a much-needed source of tax revenue, which will help residents with public safety needs, mental health services, and (post traumatic stress disorder) treatments for veterans,” Graf said in a written statement last week.
An estimated $10 million to $15 million in revenues would support those initiatives, as outlined in Ballot Question 300.
If retail sales are officially legalized, questions remain about where recreational marijuana shops can do business.
The City Council in late September preemptively limited shops’ possible operating locations to mostly the eastern edge of Colorado Springs by prohibiting facilities that sell recreational cannabis from operating within one mile of K-12 schools, residential and child care, or drug or alcohol treatment facilities.
Proponents of recreational sales and other city leaders who did not support the zoning ordinance said that, because of its limitations, the ordinance is a de facto ban on retail marijuana sales. Question 300 proposes prohibiting recreational marijuana shops from operating within 1,000 feet of schools and other facilities.
A city-provided map has shown how the current locations of all medical marijuana shops in Colorado Springs do not comply with the one-mile buffer rule.
Though discussion at public meetings in the summer operated under the understanding that the buffer will take precedence over the zoning requirements in Question 300, city officials have not yet provided a clear answer.
In September, spokesman Max D’Onofrio said the planning department will need to evaluate each request for a new retail marijuana license to ensure it complies with zoning and licensing requirements in city code.
Last week, D’Onofrio said there has been no update from the city on which setback requirements would take precedence.
”}]] As elections officials in El Paso County continue counting additional ballots, the Colorado Springs community inches closer to a definitive answer about whether recreational marijuana sales will be permitted in city limits. Read More
