Retail marijuana ballot measure fails to make the ballot

By Terry Murry on Monday, July 1st, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

HERMISTON – The citizen-driven campaign to place a ballot measure on the November ballot that would allow retail marijuana outlets to operate in certain locations within the city limits has failed.

The petition drive had gathered 2,370 signatures, but Umatilla County Elections Manager Kim Lindell said that of those, only 896 were able to be verified. Just under 1,500 signatures were rejected.

The ballot measure also called for a three percent sales tax to be levied on those establishments and set limits as to where they could be located. Most of the rejected signatures (42.5 percent) were due to the person not being a registered voter in the city of Hermiston. Lindell reported that 39.2 percent of the signatures were from registered voters that lived outside the Hermiston district.

The Hermiston City Council had explored such a ballot measure as another stream of revenue. However, the council voted against going further with the proposal after opponents, including the Hermiston School District Board of Directors, spoke against the proposal. Lindell said in an earlier interview that the citizens’ group would have to start from scratch to get the question on the ballot in the next eligible election.