(MPRN-Lansing) The state has asked a court to dismiss a legal challenge filed by the campaign to legalize marijuana in Michigan.
The MILegalize campaign wants a court to order state elections officials to count petition signatures regardless of how long ago they were collected. The state is defending a rule that says signatures more than 180 days old can’t be counted, unless a campaign goes through the onerous process of making sure each signor is a registered voter.
The state says the marijuana campaign hasn’t met the criteria for filing a lawsuit, and that state government officials are immune from the legal action. The state’s 73-page filing also argues the case should be dismissed because the marijuana campaign has run out of time.
It says even if the campaign prevails on the legal issues, there’s not enough time to for elections officials to check the signatures, put the question to the Legislature for the legally required 40 days, and still be able to make the September deadline for mailing out absentee ballots.
The MILegalize campaign plans to quickly file its response in an effort to still qualify for the November ballot.
