Full signature count needed for medical marijuana dispensary initative

For the second time this week, a group gathering signatures to get initiatives on November's ballot has failed to get past the first phase of signature validation.

On Friday, the El Dorado County Elections Department said the group attempting to grandfather in the existing medical marijuana dispensary in South Lake Tahoe and allow them to sell adult use marijuana failed the first count of a sample 500 signatures.

The Tahoe Wellness Cooperative at 3445 Lake Tahoe Boulevard is the only medical marijuana dispensary in the City limits.

The random sample shall include 500 signatures or 3 percent of those submitted, whichever is greater. The group needed 1,036 signatures of City voters to get the initiative on the ballot and they gathered 1,614.

According to EDC Elections, there were just 312 valid signatures in that sample as well as 3 duplicate ones. Using their formula, they would expect 986 valid signatures out of the submitted ones, or 95.13 percent of the total needed (1007).

Because of this high percentage, Elections must count and verify each of the gathered signatures within the next 30 days.

On Wednesday, the group wanting to have an initiative on the ballot to keep vacation home rentals didn't get the required signatures.