U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered June 23 that Idaho officials must decide by June 26 whether to place citizen initiatives, including one to legalize medical cannabis, on the state’s November ballot or to allow more time for signature gathering, according to a LocalNews8.com report.
The Idaho Medical Marijuana Act needed to collect 55,057 signatures by May 1 to qualify its medical cannabis legalization initiative for the 2020 ballot. The campaign gathered roughly 40,000 signatures prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and would have had to wait until 2022 to place its initiative on the ballot prior to the judge’s recent ruling, the news outlet reported.
Russ Belville, the campaign’s chief petitioner, told LocalNews8.com that whatever the state decides will be a win for the initiatives, as the measures will either be placed on the ballot, or a precedent will be set to allow electronic signature gathering in the state.
