Attorney General Tim Griffin tells Arkansas Supreme Court that signatures are sufficient for medical marijuana on November ballot if court agrees with process

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed an affidavit Friday regarding the court fight to place changes in medical marijuana laws before voters.

Griffin filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court that there would be enough petition signatures to place revisions to medical marijuana laws before voters, a disputed point, if the court approved the signatures attending paperwork.

“My office has filed an affidavit with the Arkansas Supreme Court on behalf of the Secretary of State in response to the Court’s order,” Griffin said. “The affidavit confirms that if the process followed by the sponsor in this case was valid, there are enough signatures for the petition to qualify for the ballot.”

Griffin added a cautionary note.

“I continue to believe that the sponsor’s process was not valid, and I will follow the law as this case progresses, he said.”

On Monday, Secretary of State John Thurston advised the ballot question sponsor, Arkansans for Patient Access (APA), that his office would not verify the group’s signatures, meaning there was no longer a ballot question. At issue was that the canvassers signed the required paperwork accompanying the signatures when they were turned in to Thurston’s office and not the ballot question sponsors.

Thurston’s letter led to a lawsuit by the group filed on Tuesday with the Arkansas Supreme Court, followed by a counter-filing by the attorney general’s office on behalf of Thurston disputing APA’s position.

At the same time a third group, Protect Arkansas Kids (PAK), filed a lawsuit asking to intervene due to what it felt was misleading language in the ballot title, a request the court granted.

Also on Tuesday, Chief Justice Dan Kemp and Justice Courtney Rae Hudson recused themselves from the case. The justices gave no reason for their recusal.

The court accepted the cases, agreeing to hear APA's complaint and PAK's request to intervene. It also ordered Thurston to verify the disputed signatures by noon on Friday. It asked that all parties submit their initial legal filings by 4 p.m. Friday and responses to opponents’ filings by Monday.

Thursday morning, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed Little Rock attorney and Republican party activist Bilenda Harris-Ritter to replace Kemp.

The ballot question still requires the court's approval before voters can act on it.

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