by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston on Monday (Sept. 30) informed representatives of a group seeking to make changes to the state’s medical marijuana amendment that it had failed to collect enough signatures to make the November ballot. Arkansans for Patient Access, a ballot question committee supporting the measure, vowed to challenge the determination.

Thurston’s letter said only 10,521 signatures collected during a 30-day cure period “were deemed valid.”

“When that number is combined with the number of signatures previously deemed valid in the initial submission, the total number of signatures is 88,040,” Thurston wrote. “For a proposed constitutional amendment, the required number of overall signatures in 2024 is 90,704. Therefore, I am obligated to deem your petition insufficient.”

Secretary of State Thurston disqualifies medical marijuana amendment; advocacy group plans lawsuit