Urban counties showed greater support for proposition
OKLAHOMA CITY – Nearly every municipality in Comanche County decided to reject the recreational marijuana proposition submitted to voters on March 7.
Medicine Park was the only outlier with 54% voting to support the issue with 83 ‘yes’ votes and 68 against the legalization of recreational marijuana, according to unofficial figures provided by the county election board.
The rest of Comanche County followed the statewide trend as Oklahomans soundly rejected the proposal. Oklahoma voters approved medical marijuana in 2018 and now have more dispensaries than any other state in the nation.
Since the election, state Sen. Jessica Garvin (R-Duncan) has called to reform the medical marijuana industry. She and other lawmakers have already introduced several measures that would address deficiencies in the industry and within the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority.
On Tuesday, voters in Elgin, Sterling, Fletcher, Chattanooga, Geronimo and Cache were overwhelmingly opposed to the measure. Elgin voters cast 417 ballots against the proposal while 201 supported it. Meanwhile, more than 70% of the voters in Chattanooga and Fletcher voted thumbs down. Chattanooga voters cast 100 ‘no’ votes compared to 34 in favor of the measure while Fletcher went against the issue by a 289-104 margin, according to figures provided by the Comanche County Election Board.
In Sterling, nearly 72% of voters were against the proposal with 282 ‘no’ votes followed by 111 supporters of recreational marijuana. Election board tallies show 65% of Cache voters were opposed to the proposal with 318 ‘no’ votes compared to 169 in favor. Geronimo residents expressed their thoughts like the rest of the county opposing the marijuana proposal 149-91.
The measure would have legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes for anyone over 21. The proposal would have allowed those adults to purchase and possess up to one ounce of marijuana, plus concentrates and marijuana-infused products.
Recreational sales would have created revenue for the state with a 15% excise tax on top of the regular sales tax. The excise tax would have been used to help fund cities and towns, the state judicial system, public schools, substance abuse treatment and Oklahoma’s general revenue fund.
Statewide, Oklahomans were overwhelming in their dislike for the proposition with 62% of voters casting their ballots against recreational marijuana. Totals show 349,121 people voted against State Question 820 while 216,883 favored the measure.
The state’s two largest counties – Oklahoma and Tulsa – showed a higher level of support for the proposition that more rural areas. In Tulsa County, 46.4% of the voters favored the proposition while 53.6% were against. In Oklahoma County, the vote was almost even with 51,235 (50.02%) people voting against the measure while 51,199 (49.98%) supported it.