About half a dozen communities throughout Wisconsin overwhelmingly accepted non-binding referenda on legalizing leisure hashish and repealing the state’s 1849 abortion ban on Tuesday.
There have been seven cannabis-related referenda on ballots throughout the state Tuesday, all of them handed by huge margins. Whereas they have been on the ballots of largely Democratic cities, the measures handed with a mean of 74.7% of the vote. The bottom performing leisure marijuana measure handed in Eau Claire County with 68.7% of the vote whereas the very best performing measure handed in Dane County with 82% of the vote.
Dane County had two hashish questions on its ballots, one requested if it ought to be legalized recreationally whereas one other requested if the county ought to expunge convictions for marijuana possession from folks’s information.
State Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) instructed Fox 11 Information in Inexperienced Bay the vote reveals Republican lawmakers are ignoring public opinion on the difficulty whereas lacking out on potential tax income.
“I feel it reveals what we’ve identified statewide {that a} majority of Wisconsinites need to see marijuana legalized,” Snodgrass stated. “Proper now, we aren’t stopping Wisconsinites from utilizing hashish. They’re simply going to different states to take action; we’re surrounded by states the place it’s legalized, and it is a income concern.”
Within the metropolis of Kenosha, the place the existence of authorized hashish just a few miles away means residents usually carry their tax {dollars} to Illinois, voters accepted a measure to have hashish “legalized for grownup use, taxed, and controlled like alcohol” with 72% of the vote. Racine, one other neighborhood not removed from the Illinois border, voted in favor of its marijuana query 76% to 24%.
Elsewhere, the town of Stevens Level handed its marijuana measure with 74.3% of the vote, the town of Appleton accepted legalization with 69% of the vote and Milwaukee County handed its measure with 74% of the vote.
Laws to legalize hashish recreationally or medicinally has been launched within the state Legislature a number of occasions. This yr, a type of payments received a public hearing for the primary time with a Republican-supported invoice to legalize medicinal hashish getting a listening to after the Legislature had adjourned for the yr.
Two communities had poll questions concerning the repeal of Wisconsin’s abortion ban, which was reinstated this yr after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s Dobbs choice. Greater than 85% of Dane County voters stated they need to see the ban repealed whereas 71% of voters within the metropolis of Racine stated the identical factor.
The state’s Republican-controlled Legislature thwarted an attempt by Gov. Tony Evers earlier this yr to amend the state structure as a way to permit a binding referendum on the query however a lawsuit from Evers and Democratic Legal professional Normal Josh Kaul that seeks to have the ban declared unenforceable is at the moment pending.
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