least popular of the initiatives for the Nov ballot originator suing the others. Murica. jeez o pete.
An organizer of one of the three medical marijuana initiatives slated for the November election is suing to get the other two initiatives removed from the ballot, arguing that one campaign collected signatures unlawfully and that the other failed to collect enough.
Brad Bradshaw, a Springfield doctor and attorney, filed two lawsuits Friday asking the court to invalidate the other two initiatives — one submitted by New Approach Missouri and the other by Lowell Pearson, a Jefferson City attorney.
State law requires that petitions receive a certain number of signatures in six of Missouri's eight congressional districts. Bradshaw alleges that Pearson's initiative did not receive enough signatures in the 5th Congressional District. A total of 16,386 signatures were collected in that district, exceeding the required amount by just 38 votes.
However, Bradshaw argues that "39 or more of the signatures on the Pearson Marijuana Petition for Congressional District No. 5 identified as valid are, in fact, invalid."
If the court rules that the 39 or more signatures are invalid, the petition would become insufficient to make the ballot.
Neither Bradshaw nor Pearson returned calls for comment.
Bradshaw's suit against the New Approach Missouri initiative alleges that the group collected signatures unlawfully in a variety of ways, including collecting signatures without a petition circulator present. He also argues unregistered voters signed the petition and that some voters' information was listed incorrectly.
Under Missouri law, both a signatory to a petition and the circulator must be registered voters. The circulator must also sign an affidavit of each petition page in the presence of a notary public.
Bradshaw says in his suit that New Approach Missouri let thousands of people sign the petition when a circulator wasn't present and provides an example of the group placing petition pages in retail establishments.
"New Approach ... ran an intentional, systematic, pervasive, and ubiquitous pattern of instructing individuals to violate the legal requirements of the petition signature gathering process," the suit says.
New Approach spokesman Jack Cardetti said the group collected all of its signatures lawfully and far exceeded the requirements defined by state statute. He said it comes as no surprise that Bradshaw filed the lawsuits in an apparent attempt to make his medical marijuana initiative the only one on the November ballot.
"These are all desperate claims because Mr. Bradshaw knows he won't have any support at the ballot box," Cardetti said. "New Approach is a coalition of literally thousands of patients, doctors and veterans that have come together to get this done, while Mr. Bradshaw has tried and failed to get anyone to support his measure besides himself."
Bradshaw also filed a motion for expedited discovery, asking that depositions be conducted within the next 30 days because the general election is less than three months away. The secretary of state must certify the November ballot by Aug. 28.
If approved by voters, Missouri would become the 31st state to legalize medical marijuana.