County marijuana initiative could be a close count to qualify for June ballot

The Nevada County Elections Office is still verifying signatures on the “Safe Cultivation Act of Nevada County” initiative at the Rood Center, and it could be a close count to qualify.

Americans for Safe Access-Nevada County submitted 10,694 signatures, according to the Elections Office.

So far, 6,018 of 6,443 signatures of the total (93.4 percent) have deemed valid, the Office said. Some 425 (or 6.6 percent) have been “challenged,” because the person who signed the petition is not registered to vote, lives out of the county, used a P.O. Box as an address, didn’t sign the date, etc.

The Elections Office said the number of challenged signatures is “unofficial” and will be double-checked. But in the end, as many as 425 signatures so far may not be counted.

Some 9,131 signatures are required for the initiative to qualify for the ballot.

That leaves 4,251 ballots left to verify — and 3,113 of them (or 73 percent) must be valid in order to reach the total needed to qualify.

The counting must be completed on March 27. A comparison of the ordinance passed by County Supervisors and the initiative proposed by ASA-NC is here.

Author: jeffpelline

Jeff Pelline is a veteran editor and award-winning journalist - in print and online. He is publisher of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine and its website SierraCulture.com. Jeff covered business and technology for The San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years, and he was a founding editor and Editor of CNET News for eight years, among other positions. Jeff has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's from Northwestern University. His hobbies include sailing, swimming, and trout fishing in the Sierra. View all posts by jeffpelline