South Dakota activists have collected enough signatures to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot, the secretary of state’s office announced on Monday.
About a month after South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML) submitted the petitions, Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s (R) office confirmed that the campaign collected 22,558 valid signatures—which is about 5,000 more than required for ballot placement.
For months it’s been unclear if the grassroots efforts would be able reach the signature threshold for ballot placement, as national industry and philanthropic financial support has been negligible this cycle. But the campaign pushed forward, and now the state has verified their success.
People have until July 3 to challenge the state’s verification of signatures, the secretary’s office said in a press release.
We qualified for the November 2024 ballot! To everyone who gave their time, energy, or signature to this petition, we thank you – qualifying an initiative for the ballot is the first step towards reforming South Dakota’s cannabis policy in 2024. pic.twitter.com/kfKDteF6ei
— South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (@southdakotamj) June 3, 2024
Voters did approve an earlier legalization initiative in 2020, but it later was invalidated by the state Supreme Court over
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