Cannabis Reform Is Poised To Win Big On Election Day In The U.S.

Today is Election Day in the United States where voter turnout is expected to be extremely strong. Presidential elections in the United States almost always have a higher voter turnout rate compared to midterm and special elections, however, this year’s enthusiasm for voting is through the roof.

At the time of the posting of this article voters across the United States are heading to the polls to cast their vote, with over 102 million voters having already voted early, either in person or by mail.

Voters in five U.S. states will see cannabis initiatives on their ballots. In Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota voters will decide on adult-use cannabis legalization measures.

In South Dakota and Mississippi, voters will decide on medical cannabis legalization initiatives. South Dakota is the first state to see both adult-use and medical legalization measures on the same ballot.

Whereas candidate races may take some time to determine a winner for various reasons, not the least of which is mail-in vote-counting provisions in states like Pennsylvania, the legalization measures in the previously listed states should be decided fairly quickly unless the vote totals are really, really close.

Polling leading up to Election Day has been favorable for all of the initiatives, which is a sign of the times. In a political environment that is often hostile and contentious, cannabis reform is something that a vast majority of U.S. residents can agree on.

Below is a summary of polling leading up to Election Day, via our friends at NORML:

• Arizona – roughly 60% support for adult-use legalization
• Montana – adult-use legalization is ahead 49-39%
• New Jersey – over 60% support for adult-use legalization
• South Dakota – 74% in favor of medical legalization and 51% for adult-use legalization
• Mississippi – 52% support for medical legalization

Keep in mind with the numbers listed above, there were quite a few undecided voters that did not choose either way, so the support for the measures could likely be considerably higher (no pun intended) since presumably some of those voters will ultimately vote for the measure(s) that they see on their ballots.