Despite a lawsuit against the East Lansing City Clerk, the hopes of seeing a measure to decriminalize marijuana in East Lansing on this year’s ballot are dimming as election day draws near.
In a letter to East Lansing resident Jeffrey Hank , whose group, Coalition for a Safer East Lansing, sponsored the petition, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said she will proceed with the November election “as planned.”
The proposal would allow adults 21 and older to use, possess or transfer one ounce or less of marijuana on private property.
Ingham County Circuit Court Judge James Jamo on Monday ruled that East Lansing City Clerk Marie Wicks should take steps that could potentially allow the petition on the November ballot.
But marijuana decriminalization advocates still face major hurdles — some ballots have already been issued and voted on , and Wicks said she is not obligated to submit the petition before the election.
The city council would first have to approve the ballot language at their Oct. 7 meeting , then Wicks would have to certify the proposal and submit documents to the state attorney general for approval.
If Wicks completes all of these steps, the last action would be to present the petition to Byrum, who expressed major concerns about the idea of a last-minute addition.
Byrum said reprinting the ballots, which would be necessary to include the petition, could “create confusion and ultimately disenfranchise” those who have already cast ballots.
The logistics of taking such action would be an “undertaking,” Byrum said, and in the letter to Hank said reprinting ballots and reprogramming voting machines would cost the county more than $16,000.
“What people forget is it isn’t just about reprinting ballots,” Byrum said. “It’s about programming the election, it’s about reaching out to those voters that already voted and giving new ballots to them.”
Wicks said in a statement that reprinting the ballots would invalidate the absentee ballots already submitted.
“For the past week people have been receiving and voting on overseas and military ballots according to federal law and have been voting and delivering their regular absentee ballots,” Wicks said in the statement. “Reprinting ballots would invalidate those completed ballots and disenfranchise AV voters, including military and overseas voters.”
The petition was submitted by the Coalition for a Safer East Lansing for Wicks’ consideration on July 29.
Wicks validated the signatures within 45 days after they were first submitted, using the maximum amount of days under law for validation and in the process missing the deadline to place a petition on this year’s ballot . Wicks said the judge ruled she complied with all of the statutory deadlines presented to her.
The petition was originally set to appear on the 2015 ballot , until Hank filed suit.
Still, Hank said the ruling was a victory to the group of East Lansing residents that want to decriminalize the use of marijuana.
“We are hoping the county does the right thing and puts it in this year’s ballot,” Hank said.
