The group trying to legalize medical marijuana in Florida is making headway in its second push to get the initiative on the ballot.
United For Care shipped more than 100,000 signatures Wednesday to election officials across the state. United For Care campaign manager Ben Pollara says the group still needs to collect more than 500,000 petitions.
“They have to be verified by individual county supervisors of elections and about a quarter of them, plus or minus five percent, get rejected for one reason or another, somebody’s signature doesn’t match up to what they have on the file,” Pollara said.
The group hopes to have enough petitions by the end of the year to put medical marijuana on the 2016 ballot. A similar measure in 2014 got 58 percent of the vote, just short of the 60 percent needed to pass.
Crystal Chavez is a reporter with WMFE in Orlando. WMFE is a part of Health News Florida, which receives support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
