Supporters of marijuana ballot face issues at polls

Clarification: Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman said police went to several polling sites on Election Day after disagreements between marijuana supporters and people at the polls. She said there were never any physical altercations between the groups. A previous version of this story was unclear about the nature of the altercations.

Supporters of the local marijuana issue who distributed information to voters during Tuesday’s primary say they were asked to leave several polling places.

The marijuana question, which would lessen penalties for first time possession, will be on the general election ballot on April 7.

Esau Freeman, organizer for the Marijuana Reform Initiative, says distributing the fliers, which urge people to “Vote Yes,” is not electioneering because it is not an issue on the current primary ballot.

Most of the polling places where marijuana supporters were asked to leave were churches, Freeman said, with the exception of the Sedgwick County Zoo Cargill Center.

“They are abusing a public forum by accepting money (from the county) and then specifically deciding who can and cannot be on the property at that time,” Freeman said. “As long as we’re not handing out information on particular candidates or ballot issues that day, it’s not electioneering.”

Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman said she “took the legal advice that it was not electioneering, because that issue was not on this ballot, as long as they were not interfering with voters coming into the polling place.”

Lehman said it was up to each individual polling place to determine what its policy on the pamphlets was.

Lehman said disturbances were reported at various polling locations between voters and the marijuana supporters, and that police were called to more than one location.

“They were causing a disruption at the polling places,” Lehman said.

However, Freeman said his group was told to avoid conflict.

“It’s not what we’re here to do. We’re just wanting to be in contact with the people who are going to vote,” he said.

Freeman said he personally was asked to leave Central Christian Church, first by a police officer, after handing out fliers for a few hours. Later, people from the church asked him to leave, and he did.

At the Sedgwick County Zoo’s Cargill Center, two supporters were asked by an election worker to leave the property.

They were told the zoo was private property, and that the zoo “didn’t want them there,” Lehman said.

In 2014, Lehman said, the Sedgwick County Zoo established it would not allow petitioners from the marijuana initiative on its grounds to garner signatures. She said the election worker at the zoo had not checked in with her or the zoo on Tuesday before asking the supporters to leave.

She said people interested in handing out literature outside polling places should always check with the polling location and her office before doing so.

“It would have avoided a lot of confusion today, and police getting involved,” she said.

This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 6:57 PM with the headline "Supporters of marijuana ballot face issues at polls."