JEFFERSON CITY • An initiative to legalize medical marijuana won’t go before voters in November, after Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green decided Tuesday that local election authorities were right to toss out thousands of the petition’s signatures.
Backed by the nonprofit New Approach Missouri, the measure would have allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat patients with certain conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The measure fell more than 2,000 signatures short of what was required to get on the ballot, largely because more than 10,000 signatures were thrown out from a district encompassing Jefferson, St. Charles and St. Louis counties.
Signatures must come from registered voters, who fill out forms based on the Missouri county where they registered. Local election authorities are tasked with matching up the signatures on petitions with signatures in their own records.
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Campaign officials from New Approach Missouri testified that voters often don’t know where they’re registered to vote.
The group’s attorneys asked Green to consider signatures from some who had inadvertently signed petitions for the wrong county.
But Green didn’t think signatures collected on the wrong county petition pages should be considered valid, leaving the petition short of what was required.
New Approach Missouri spokesman Jack Cardetti said that though a final ruling is expected as early as Wednesday, the group won’t have enough time to appeal before Sept. 27, the deadline to get on the ballot.
“We are proud of the work we have done educating the public about this important medical issue, and feel confident that we have laid the groundwork for the inevitable passage of medical marijuana in Missouri,” Cardetti said in a statement. “While delayed, our work is not yet done, and we will fight for these patients until they and their doctors are put back in charge of their medical treatment options.”
