Early Voting Kicks Off In Texas, Where Marijuana Decriminalization Is On The Ballot In Dallas And Other Cities

As of Monday, early voting has officially commenced in Texas, where voters in Dallas and two other cities will get to decide on ballot measures to locally decriminalize marijuana.

Ground Game Texas, which spearheaded the measures, is urging supporters to take advantage of the early voting option to ensure that more jurisdictions—including the state’s third largest city by population—become the latest to enact the reform.

In Dallas, local lawmakers formally put the marijuana decriminalization initiative on the ballot in August after activists turned in sufficient petitions for the reform. If voters ultimately approve the proposal, possession of up to four ounces of marijuana would be decriminalized in the city.

“Dallas voters want sensible marijuana policy reform, as evidenced by the 50,000 signatures we collected in support of this proposition,” Catina Voellinger, executive director of Ground Game Texas, said in a press release.

“The city’s current policy disproportionately harms people of color, and wastes scarce public resources that are desperately needed elsewhere,” she said. “Our initiatives activate a diverse base of voters, including first-time and infrequent voters, as well as young people, and we’re excited to energize Dallas.”

Other Texas cities will also be deciding on local marijuana decriminalization initiatives this year.

For example, lawmakers in Lockhart officially placed the cannabis reform on the ballot in July—reaching a compromise with activists after the city attorney attempted to revise the proposal in a way that supporters worried would face legal challenges and potentially upend the reform. Voters in Bastrop will also decide on a marijuana decriminalization measure.

Last week, cannabis icon and music legend Willie Nelson urged Dallas voters to pass the marijuana measure.

Prior to the August vote on ballot placement, some members of the Dallas City Council had expressed interest in streamlining the process of decriminalizing cannabis by acting legislatively, but plans to introduce the proposal at a hearing in June did not materialize, leaving the matter to voters.

The measure would prevent police from making arrests or issuing citations for Class A or B misdemeanor cannabis possession offenses, unless it’s part of a high priority felony investigation for narcotics or violent crime.

Further, it says “Dallas police shall not consider the odor of marijuana or hemp to constitute probable cause for any search or seizure.”

The city manager and chief of police would be required to prepare quarterly reports on the implementation of the policy change, with information about any marijuana possession arrests or citations that would be submitted to the Dallas City Council.

Numerous marijuana decriminalization measures have already been enacted in cities across the Lone Star state in recent years, including Austin, Denton, Elgin, Harker Heights, Killeen and San Marcos. They generally prevent police from making arrests or issuing citations for Class A or B misdemeanor cannabis possession offenses, unless it’s part of a high priority felony investigation for narcotics or violent crime.

Advocates also scored another win in San Marcos in July after a Texas district judge dismissed a lawsuit from the state’s Republican attorney general that sought to overturn a local decriminalization ordinance in that city.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed a lawsuit in January challenging local decriminalization laws that were enacted in five cities: Austin, San Marcos, Killeen, Elgin and Denton. A different district judge had overturned the suit in Austin in June.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has separately lashed out against the municipal cannabis reform efforts.

“Local communities such as towns, cities and counties, they don’t have the authority to override state law,” the governor said in May “If they want to see a different law passed, they need to work with their legislators. Let’s legislate to work to make sure that the state, as a state, will pass some of the law.”

He said it would lead to “chaos” and create an “unworkable system” for voters in individual cities to be “picking and choosing” the laws they want abide by under state statute.

Abbott has previously said that he doesn’t believe people should be in jail over marijuana possession—although he mistakenly suggested at the time that Texas had already enacted a decriminalization policy to that end.

Paxton had used more inflammatory rhetoric when his office announced that it was suing the five cities over their local laws decriminalizing marijuana, vowing to overrule the “anarchy” of “pro-crime extremists” who advocated for the reform.

Shortly after voters in Harker Heights approved their measure, the city council overturned the ordinance over concerns that it conflicted with state law. But activists collected signatures for another initiative and successfully repealed the repeal last year—though officials have still refused to move forward with implementing the will of voters.

Last year, Ground Game released a report that looked at the impacts of the marijuana reform laws. It found that the measures will keep hundreds of people out of jail, even as they have led to blowback from law enforcement in some cities. The initiatives have also driven voter turnout by being on the ballot, the report said.

Another cannabis decriminalization measure that went before voters in San Antonio last year was overwhelmingly defeated, but that proposal also included unrelated provisions to prevent enforcement of abortion restrictions.

At the state-level last year, the Texas House of Representatives passed a series of bills to decriminalize marijuana, facilitate expungements and allow chronic pain patients to access medical cannabis as an opioid alternative. But they ultimately stalled out in the Senate, which has been a theme for cannabis reform measures in the conservative legislature over several sessions.

The House passed similar cannabis decriminalization proposals during the past two legislative sessions, in 2021 and 2019.

Separately, a Texas Democratic senator brought the issue of marijuana legalization to the Senate floor last May, seeking to attach to an unrelated resolution an amendment that would’ve allowed Texans to vote on ending prohibition at the ballot box. But the symbolic proposal was ultimately shut down. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) agreed to another member’s point of order, deeming the cannabis amendment not germane to the broader legislation.

A strong bipartisan majority of Texas voters support decriminalizing marijuana, and more people say they want to reduce restrictions on cannabis than say the same about guns, gambling and abortion in the Lone Star state, according to a poll released last month.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) separately released a recent report advising that the state’s limited medical marijuana system “does not provide for statewide access for patients” and recommending that the number of licensed dispensaries be significantly expanded to meet demand.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5615404&forum_id=2Reputation#48222854)