Arizona Campaign to Place Cannabis Legalization Initiative on November Ballot Asks State Supreme Court to Allow Electronic Signatures Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Smart and Safe Arizona is one of four ballot initiative campaigns in the state that filed a petition April 2 to ask the Arizona Supreme Court to allow the campaigns to gather electronic signatures amid the COVID-19 crisis, according to Ballotpedia.

The petition asks the court to allow Smart and Safe Arizona, Arizonans for Second Chances, Invest in Education, and Save Our Schools Arizona to collect signatures digitally through E-Qual, the state’s online signature collection platform. E-Qual is currently available for federal, statewide and legislative candidates, but not for ballot initiatives, according to Ballotpedia.

No states currently allow ballot initiative campaigns to collect signatures electronically, and the Arizona campaigns are not the first to face obstacles due to the coronavirus outbreak; at least 15 campaigns in eight states have suspended their signatures drives as of April 2, Ballotpedia reported.

RELATED: Coronavirus Could Jeopardize Campaign to Place Cannabis Legalization Initiative on Missouri’s November Ballot: Legalization Watch

Smart and Safe Arizona had collected more than 320,000 of the 356,467 required signatures as of March 27, according to a Tuscon.com report, although only 237,645 were valid.