By A petition that would legalize adult recreational marijuana use in South Dakota has enough signatures from registered voters to be placed on the Nov. 5 ballot, according to the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office.
The office made the announcement Monday, triggering a 30-day window for challenges to the petition’s validity.
It’s the sixth statewide ballot measure to qualify for the general election, pending potential challenges. Four of the measures are citizen-initiated and two were placed on the ballot by the Legislature.
MORE: Here are the 4 ballot measures South Dakota voters could have a say on this election
The marijuana ballot measure would allow people 21 and older to possess, grow, ingest and distribute marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia, with some restrictions. Among those are a possession limit of 2 ounces and a maximum number of six plants per person or 12 per household.
Twenty-four states have legalized recreational marijuana. South Dakota voters approved it in 2020, along with the legalization of medical marijuana. But the recreational portion of that ballot measure was challenged in court and invalidated, while medical marijuana legalization proceeded.
The new measure needed 17,508 signatures from South Dakota registered voters to qualify for the ballot. Based on a random sample, the Secretary of State’s Office estimated that petitioners collected 22,558 valid signatures.