Medical marijuana initiative heads toward passage

Ten days after the general election, Arizona’s medical marijuana ballot measure appears to be headed toward passage as Maricopa County election officials race to finish counting early and provisional ballots.

Just before 6 p.m. Friday, the Secretary of State’s Office reported the measure was leading by more than 4,000 votes. It was the first time the measure had more yes votes than no votes since the ballot tally began Nov. 2.

The measure appeared doomed after the first several days of counting, but the provisional ballots, which are among the last to be counted, shifted the tide this week.

Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the Medical Marijuana Policy project, said he had been watching the results come in all day Friday. When it finally became apparent that the votes for the measure would overtake those against, Myers said he felt a sense of relief, as he had suspected this would be the outcome.

“Obviously we’re thrilled,” Myers said of the turnaround. “We noticed a trend in the early provisional ballots being counted in various counties – at around an 8 percent advantage – and we knew if that trend continued in the Maricopa county provisional ballots, we could come out on top.”

The Secretary of State’s Office reported that about 10,000 ballots have yet to be counted statewide, all of them in Maricopa County. Of those, 8,000 are early ballots and 2,000 are provisional ballots.