Group says it has ample signatures to get pot on ballot

PHOENIX (AP) — Proponents of legalizing recreational marijuana in Arizona said Wednesday they turned in 420,000 petition signatures — far more than needed to get the measure on the November ballot despite challenges posed by the coronavirus.

Organizers of the Smart and Safe Arizona Act, which would legalize recreational marijuana use by people 21 and over, said they began gathering voters' signatures last September. By the time the coronavirus halted life as usual in March, the group had only about 300,000 signatures, spokeswoman Stacy Pearson said.

That’s more than the required 237,645, but initiative proponents usually get extras because many can be invalidated after vetting by the Arizona secretary of state, which will decide with county recorders if the pot initiative makes the ballot.

The pandemic put things on pause and forced the group to retool how it carried out its work, Pearson said.

“We had to figure out a way to continue to gather signatures safely in a way that’s never been done before,” she said.

Paid signature gatherers found places where people still visited despite restrictions, like hiking trailheads and grocery stores. Organizers set up a way for people to request a signature gatherer to come to their home, where they would wear personal protective equipment and keep a safe distance as someone signed.

Pearson has high hopes for the initiative, even after Arizona voters in 2016 rejected a different legalization proposal. She said the current proposal addresses some of the concerns opponents had four years ago, when the proposal failed at the polls by roughly 2 ½ percentage points.

Still, the latest measure also faces opposition, including from the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which spent more than $585,000 against the...