Judge Removes Barrier for Nebraska Medical Marijuana Campaign

A federal judge in Nebraska removed a major obstacle for activists who want to legalize medical marijuana via a ballot campaign, ruling that petition circulators no longer have to gather signatures from at least 5% of voters in 38 or more counties.

U.S. District Judge John Gerrard issued an order Monday to temporarily bar the state from enforcing the requirement, which is enshrined in the Nebraska Constitution to guarantee at least some buy-in from rural voters before an issue can appear on a statewide ballot.

The ruling comes at a critical time for medical marijuana supporters, who have until July 7 to submit at least 87,000 valid signatures on each of two petitions to Nebraska’s secretary of state. The campaign began with strong prospects but has struggled a bit since one of its biggest donors died, forcing organizers to rely primarily on volunteers.

In a lawsuit, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska argued that the requirement violates free speech and equal protection rights by making some voters’ signatures more valuable than others. They argued that, for signature gathering purposes, one voter in sparsely populated Arthur County is equal to 1,216 voters in Douglas County, which includes Omaha.

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