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OfflineYthanA
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Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot * 1
    #19368273 - 01/04/14 01:29 PM (10 years, 26 days ago)

Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot
tampabay.com

TAMPA — Buoyed by a last-minute flood of signatures, the group pushing to legalize medical marijuana in Florida says it now has enough petitions to force a vote in November.

Elections officials are scrambling to see if that is true.

"We have collected close to 900,000 and by Monday or Tuesday of next week, we should be close to 1 million," said Ben Pollara, campaign director for United for Care said Thursday. "We are going to make it."

The initiative, largely bankrolled by Orlando attorney John Morgan, was in serious jeopardy in mid December, when it was hundreds of thousands of signatures short with only about a month left.

Then Morgan opened the money spigot — raising pay for professional petition gatherers from $1 a signature to as much as $4, hiring people from around the country to solicit signatures outside courthouses, restaurants, stores and post offices.

Organizers also reduced the lag time between securing a signature and delivering it to an elections office for verification from about a week to one or two days, Pollara said. They rented vans to deliver petitions directly, rather than relying on the post office or delivery services.

The campaign has probably spent $2.5 million to $3 million so far, Pollara said.

Now county elections offices face a backlog of signatures that must be verified by Feb. 1. The campaign began in August. Some officials said they have received as many petitions since Christmas as they had in all previous weeks combined.

Hillsborough County had received about 30,000 petitions through Dec. 22. Another 40,000 have come in since then. About half the staff is processing petitions, making sure each signer is a registered voter and their signature matches the one on file.

Pinellas County has received 72,728 petitions since August, including 38,864 that came in since Monday.

The Pasco County elections office had processed almost 12,000 petitions through last weekend, validating almost 10,000, said Tami Bentley, senior deputy for voter services.

Then on Monday, United for Care delivered 8,537 more petitions and another 7,420 on Thursday. With several workers on holiday vacation, Bentley estimates that the office faces an eight- or nine-day backlog.

"We have had to bring on temporary help," Bentley said. "Our regular staff would never be able to accomplish this."

A proposed constitutional amendment needs 683,149 valid voter signatures to be placed on the November ballot. But the marijuana campaign hopes to collect at least 1,050,000, Pollara said. That's because the rejection rate is running 28 to 29 percent — fairly typical of referendum drives. Hillsborough has rejected 26 percent of the petitions it has evaluated; Pinellas, 21 percent; Miami-Dade, 35 percent.

Many signers turn out not to be registered voters. Some sign more than one petition. Some signatures don't match ones on voting rolls. Sometimes, elections workers cannot decipher the name or address.

United for Care hired PCI Consultants, a California firm, to run the signature-gathering campaign. Collectors are paid for each signature, even if an elections office eventually rejects it, Pollara said. But PCI runs spot-checks on petition batches before turning them in. If too many signatures look questionable, the entire batch is returned to the collector without payment. Many professional gatherers work multiple campaigns, and know a high rejection rate could put them out of work.

Signatures must be verified by Feb. 1, and elections offices can take up to 30 days to process a petition. In theory, that means that petitions delivered this week may not get processed.

But elections officials said they are committed to counting as many as petitions as possible over the next few weeks — even though they are swamped.

"Our policy is that we are going to turn these around quickly as we can," said Craig Latimer, Hillsborough supervisor of elections. "It is our legislative responsibility to take care of these." The turnaround time in Hillsborough is about two weeks, so any petitions that arrive in "the next two weeks ought to get counted," he said.

The Pasco elections office has never failed to process any ballot petition because time ran out, Bentley said.

"We are going to give it our best shot," she said. "Of course, if they dump 70,000 on us on Jan. 30, that is not going to happen."

Orange County has received 57,886 total petitions, 30,278 of them since Dec. 23. "Realistically, I'm concerned about anything received after Jan. 17th making the Feb. 1 certification deadline, said Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles. Fourteen employees are now working full time on petition processing, including six temporary workers.

United for Care plans to continue statewide collections for one more week, Pollara said, then evaluate whether it needs more.

County elections officials "have been really great about this," he said. "Most are saying that anything we get in by the second week in January will be counted. And even after that, they are saying they will give it their best shot if need be."

If approved at the polls by at least 60 percent of voters, the amendment would legalize marijuana as a medical treatment for users who have a doctor's approval. Marijuana would have to be sold through state-regulated dispensaries; personal cultivation would still be illegal.

Public opinion polls indicate that a strong majority of Floridians favor the measure.

Even if the campaign collects enough valid signatures, the November vote could be derailed by the Florida Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on whether the ballot language is legal. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has argued that the language is confusing and also violates a requirement that the measure be limited to a single subject.

Morgan's group suspended payments to signature gatherers for about a month in the fall, trying to avoid spending a lot if the court threw out the ballot. Hillsborough County records reflect that hiatus, with only 2,400 petitions submitted during October — compared to 15,470 submitted on Monday. Morgan said that putting the campaign on hold was a mistake that forced the all-out dash.


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Offlinedark3st
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: Ythan]
    #19368669 - 01/04/14 02:47 PM (10 years, 26 days ago)

I signed :smile: I'm so happy to be part of this in FL!!!

I have a copy of the petition on my binder for college lol. The other day a dude ran into the admissions office on campus and got at least 80% of the 70 people in theres signature :laugh:


--------------------
Back.. I'm going to do it...I'm getting sober from opiates ... I got weed, gabapentin, propranolol, and GHB, I have 100mg tramadol left. I can do this. I can do this.

OFINTQWGVGAKGCYKBUBX
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I have these seeds:
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OfflineKingKnowledge
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: dark3st]
    #19368723 - 01/04/14 03:03 PM (10 years, 26 days ago)

I wonder if these recent articles on states going towards medical/legal marijuana (Florida, New Hampshire, New York, etc.) are actually real or just being published due to the openings in Colorado this past week.


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Offlineimachavel
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: Ythan]
    #19369134 - 01/04/14 04:37 PM (10 years, 26 days ago)

Signed this a long time ago. The Florida Norml group came and gave me a copy to sign


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:kingcrankey: I did not say to edit my signature soulidarity! Now forever I will never remember what I said about understanding the secrets of the universe by paying attention to subtleties!

:facepalm: I'm never giving you the password again. Jerk


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OfflinePsychedelicGinge
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: imachavel]
    #19370372 - 01/04/14 09:26 PM (10 years, 26 days ago)

People are on top in getting these petitions out to the people, I've seen so many people offer petitions at the university I attend and I love it. I can't wait to see my grandma with Alzheimer's disease using a G pen. Although America isn't in the best of situations I believe there are still many good things to come with marijuana in these next few years.


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Do not let psychedelics allow you to think lower of people who haven't done them or don't plan on doing them because "they don't know the truth". Let your enlightenment acknowledge that everyone is equal and that no one is inferior. This mentality goes against what they are meant for.
By the way, everything typed on this account is completely fictional and all for the purpose of entertainment.


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Offlineguest1
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: PsychedelicGinge]
    #19370528 - 01/04/14 10:13 PM (10 years, 26 days ago)

People who are against medical marijuana are selfish and should be ashamed of themselves.

Legal medical marijuana means that research is open to isolating/creating/modifying cannabinoids, which could lead to new medicines that may have even more benefits for some things that currently standard cannabis does not produce naturally or in significant enough concentration to be effective.

Voting against medical marijuana, is not voting against people getting high, it is voting against the advancement of medicine.

Of course I feel recreational use of cannabis should be legal, but at a bare minimum, hemp production and medical marijuana research should obviously be legal.


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InvisibleTYL3R
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: guest1]
    #19371147 - 01/05/14 01:51 AM (10 years, 26 days ago)

I signed it.
And gave the lady as many thanks as possible and my last smoke.

\m/


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InvisiblePolk_Audio3
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: guest1]
    #19371329 - 01/05/14 03:53 AM (10 years, 26 days ago)

Quote:

guest1 said:
People who are against medical marijuana are selfish and should be ashamed of themselves.

Legal medical marijuana means that research is open to isolating/creating/modifying cannabinoids, which could lead to new medicines that may have even more benefits for some things that currently standard cannabis does not produce naturally or in significant enough concentration to be effective.

Voting against medical marijuana, is not voting against people getting high, it is voting against the advancement of medicine.

Of course I feel recreational use of cannabis should be legal, but at a bare minimum, hemp production and medical marijuana research should obviously be legal.



Well said!


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OfflineAopocetx
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: Polk_Audio3]
    #19376449 - 01/06/14 09:08 AM (10 years, 25 days ago)

I'm so happy to be a part of this. John Morgan is an awesome person for doing this. I got to meet him one time at a catering event. He drove there in a classic Rolls Royce. It was from the 60s. One of the most beautiful cars I've ever seen.


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---------> Acacia confusa trip report <--------

############ DPT HCL trip report with Q&A ###########

Follow my psychedelic instagram @psychedelicpage


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OfflineAllisterem
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: Aopocetx]
    #19376771 - 01/06/14 10:55 AM (10 years, 24 days ago)

I live in North Florida I dunno about the rest of the state but it seems to me there are too many old folks for this to pass...yet


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Offlinedark3st
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: Allisterem]
    #19381126 - 01/07/14 06:40 AM (10 years, 24 days ago)

Quote:

Allisterem said:
I live in North Florida I dunno about the rest of the state but it seems to me there are too many old folks for this to pass...yet



How does it feel to be completely wrong :lol:


--------------------
Back.. I'm going to do it...I'm getting sober from opiates ... I got weed, gabapentin, propranolol, and GHB, I have 100mg tramadol left. I can do this. I can do this.

OFINTQWGVGAKGCYKBUBX
free dark P. Tampanensis prints to ODD members.

no stamps atm

FREE SEEDS for ODD WCA  members ONLY

I have these seeds:
Orange, red, and yellow sweet peppers, Purple poppies, White Habanero, Yellow Thai, Bolivian rainbow peppers, milk thistle, red chilly pepper, HBWR.


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Invisibleluvdemshrooms
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: dark3st]
    #19381140 - 01/07/14 06:51 AM (10 years, 24 days ago)

Perhaps ask him again if it turns out he is wrong?


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You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for that my dear friend is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. ~ Adrian Rogers


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Offlinedark3st
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Re: Flurry of petitions propel medical marijuana toward Florida ballot [Re: luvdemshrooms]
    #19381148 - 01/07/14 06:57 AM (10 years, 24 days ago)

That's reasonable.


--------------------
Back.. I'm going to do it...I'm getting sober from opiates ... I got weed, gabapentin, propranolol, and GHB, I have 100mg tramadol left. I can do this. I can do this.

OFINTQWGVGAKGCYKBUBX
free dark P. Tampanensis prints to ODD members.

no stamps atm

FREE SEEDS for ODD WCA  members ONLY

I have these seeds:
Orange, red, and yellow sweet peppers, Purple poppies, White Habanero, Yellow Thai, Bolivian rainbow peppers, milk thistle, red chilly pepper, HBWR.


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