The MILegalize Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the campaign has collected over 240,000 signatures to legalize cannabis the right way in Michigan. The campaign is issuing a final challenge to their volunteer base– help us collect another 50,000 signatures to finish the petition drive.
Since the campaign began in June of 2015, MILegalize has collected over 240,000 total voter signatures on petitions statewide; the state requires 252,000 valid signatures at time of turn-in to qualify for the November 2016 general election ballot.
“MILegalize has always set a goal of overachieving the target number of signatures needed,” said MILegalize Chairman, Lansing attorney Jeffrey Hank. “Besides our heroic activists, we have established contracts with two professional signature gathering firms to collect another 100,000 valid signatures from voters before the end of our drive. It’s exciting. This spring offensive is the beginning of the end of cannabis prohibition in Michigan.”
MILegalize needs another 50,000 raw signatures submitted by volunteer petitioners before March 15. The MILegalize campaign is setting new standards for voter validation, registration and data analysis, creating a challenge-proof petition and laying the groundwork early for the November campaign.
“Our volunteer army has kept us in the campaign,” Campaign Manager Chris Silva said. The people of Michigan responded. They know why we can’t wait.”
The final challenge issued by the Board to the MILegalize volunteers; collect the 50,000 raw signatures needed to complete the campaign. “MILegalize is paying $2 per valid signature to our volunteers, if they register with us,” Silva reiterated. “We believe in our volunteer base and we know these dedicated people can get the job done.”
The campaign is still in full swing, with fundraisers and events scheduled for 2016. The next fundraising event is in Lansing on February 19th, followed by a similar event at Treetops Resort in Gaylord on February 20. In Flint MILegalize will be helping out with the water crisis by distributing cases of water on February 6. Petitions are still available for signing in businesses around the state or can be requested via milegalize.com and completed petitions can be mailed to the campaign.
MILegalize is issuing a call to action and has declared March 8, 2016, a statewide petitioning day. With Michigan’s national primary election March 8, petitioners are encouraged to register with the campaign and get voter signatures at the polling places near them. When the history of the end of cannabis prohibition in Michigan is written, March 8 will be a significant milestone.
“The events are always being updated on the www.milegalize.com website,” said fundraising coordinator and Board member Jamie Lowell. “We are totally a Michigan funded movement; no outside money influences our politics, and we wrote this proposal for the people. In these next few months, we need people to act to ensure marijuana is legalized the right way. This is our time.”
Campaign Finance Reports released earlier this week show that MILegalize has raised more than half a million dollars to legalize marijuana in Michigan. Competing marijuana ballot initiative Michigan Cannabis Coalition (MCC) showed zero revenue during the last quarter of 2015 with $54,000 in debts, signalling a dead campaign and leaving MILegalize as the state’s only realistic cannabis law reform option.
To volunteer or donate, please visit www.milegalize.com or contact our campaign headquarters in Lansing.
Source: MILegalize campaign – make a donation
