The Tuesday Count: Florida poised for round two of medical marijuana battle

January 13, 2015

Edited by Brittany Clingen

Contentious ballot topics, including marijuana and GMOs, continue to gain momentum after the 2014 general election. Both topics will likely appear on local and statewide ballots during 2015 and 2016 elections. Meanwhile, voters in Ohio will cast votes on a statewide ballot measure during the general election for the first time since 2012.

Medical marijuana group gears up for round two in 2016:
Supporters of 2014's Amendment 2 - which was narrowly defeated at the polls in Florida when it failed to garner the 60 percent supermajority required for approval - hit the ground running and are well on their way to securing a spot for another medical marijuana initiative on the 2016 ballot. People United for Medical Marijuana, the measure's sponsoring group, submitted its new version of the measure to the Florida Secretary of State on January 8, with the intention of beginning the signature gathering process on January 12. John Morgan, the Orlando-based lawyer who gave $4 million out of his own pocket to the 2014 measure, feels confident the 2016 measure will succeed, saying, "Last time I did this, it was like a maze. Well, I’ve been through it once. I know how to do this. We made a lot of mistakes and we won’t make them this time."

One of the reasons Morgan is confident the 2016 attempt will be more fruitful than its predecessor is because the 2016 initiative has been carefully worded in order to avoid potential ambiguity. Opponents of the 2014 measure claimed its wording was too vague, leaving it open to interpretation and loopholes. According to the Miami Herald, "The new proposal specifies that parents would have to consent if their child is to receive medical marijuana. It adds extra language to clarify that only people with 'debilitating medical conditions' can receive the drug. It makes sure to say that it can only be recommended by a licensed medical physician. And the Department of Health would be empowered to deny felons the ability to be so-called 'caregivers' who deliver marijuana for a qualified patient."

However, those opposed to legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana still have concerns and are prepared to fight the new measure. A spokesperson for the group Drug Free America, which is affiliated with the state-specific group Drug Free Florida, spoke out against the renewed attempt to legalize medical marijuana. Calvina Fay, Drug Free America's executive director, said, "To create medicine through a ballot initiative in our state constitution we don’t think is a smart thing to do. Just the process itself we would object to." Opponents still have some time to organize their arguments, as supporters must collect at least 683,149 valid signatures to have the measure certified for the ballot. Supporters have until February 1, 2016, to submit signatures.

Measure to appear on Ohio general election ballot for first time since 2012:
Voters in Ohio will have their say on a legislatively referred constitutional amendment during the November 3, 2015, general election. The sole measure currently certified for the ballot, the Bipartisan Redistricting Commission Amendment, would create a bipartisan redistricting commission to draw state legislative districts. The redistricting commission would consist of the governor, state auditor, secretary of state, one person appointed by the Speaker of the House, one person appointed by the legislative leader of the largest political party in the house of which the speaker is not a member, one person appointed by the President of the Ohio Senate and one person appointed by the legislative leader of the largest political party in the senate of which the president is not a member. This is the first time in three years a statewide ballot measure will appear on a general election ballot in the Buckeye Sate. There were no statewide ballot measures featured on the 2013 general election ballot, and the only statewide measure in 2014 appeared on the primary election ballot.

Local spotlight

Activists in Benton County, Oregon, finally land initiative to ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on ballot:

Members of the Benton County Community Rights Coalition have been trying to put an initiative to block all GMOs in the county before voters since early 2014, when voters in Jackson County and Josephine County approved similar measures despite heavy spending in opposition from Monsanto, Dow AgroScience and other bio-chemical agriculture companies. After fighting through several lawsuits and the original rejection of their initiative by the county clerk, they finally succeeded in qualifying the measure - Measure 2-89 - for an election. On December 16, 2014, initiative petitioners John Booker Jr., Cheri Clark and Dana Allen turned in 3,078 signatures to the county elections office. According to Elections Supervisor Jeff Doty, the group needed 2,171 of these signatures to be valid, a number determined by 6 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. Doty, after investigating the submitted petition sheets, found 2,658 valid signatures, thereby referring the initiative to the May 19 ballot by a comfortable margin.

Since Benton County activists began their efforts to ban GMOs, voters in both Humboldt County, California, and Maui County, Hawaii, have approved similar initiatives. In Maui, voters narrowly approved the measure despite an opposing campaign that spent nearly $8 million, most of which was donated by Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences.

Other measures in the news

• Florida Right to Sell Solar Energy Initiative (2016): A conservative group is leading the fight for personal solar energy production in Florida.
• Vermont Plurality Vote for Governor Amendment (2016): Following Vermont's 2014 gubernatorial election, Gov. Shumlin is calling for an end to the state's simple majority vote requirement for electing the governor.
• Arizona Supermajority Required for Constitutional Changes Amendment (2016): Three Republican representatives want to mandate 60 percent supermajorities for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

See also

2015 ballot measures

Tuesday Count • 2015 Scorecard

• Ballotpedia's Tuesday Count for 2015
• 2015 ballot measures
• Local ballot measure elections in 2015