The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered the secretary of state’s office to certify a marijuana legalization initiative for the November ballot—but there’s a chance that the votes will not end up being counted, depending on the final outcome of a pending legal challenge.
On Wednesday, justices on the state’s highest court granted Responsible Growth Arkansas’s motions to expedite the case and for a preliminary injunction that will force the secretary of state’s office to certify the reform measure. The legal dispute centers on the legalization campaign’s effort to overturn the state Board of Election Commissioners’s ruling that the measure’s ballot title is misleading.
What this means is that voters will see legalization on the ballot. But if the court ultimately sides with state officials on the merits of the challenge following certification, the votes on the initiative would not be counted.
Justices laid out a timeline for next steps in the case. First, the secretary of state will need to file a response to the petitioners’ original complaint by August 16. Petitioners will then have until August 23 to file a response brief. A subsequent respondents’ brief is due August 30. And finally, petitioner’s reply brief to that must come
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