A consortium of marijuana shops in San Jose are handing out free pot in exchange for your ballot stub or “I voted” sticker on June 3, which is election day for local races and battles for governor and secretary of state.
The coordinators of the “Weed for Votes” effort said about a dozen of the 40 shops in a San Jose marijuana collective agreed to participate.
“Primary elections tend to have much lower turnout because people don’t even know there’s a vote that day,” explained pot club owner Dave Hodges, a member of the Silicon Valley Cannabis Coalition. “We want to help people know when to vote and who to vote for.”
Of course there is one small problem with this, according to a spokesman for the city, David Vossbrink. He argues that giving voters an incentive to register or to vote in an election is illegal under federal law. It so happens that the collective’s voter guide, which will be available for free along with the free marijuana, backs Democratic candidates and endorses politicians who are “friendly to the cannabis movement or at least better than the alternatives.”
Some of the marijuana-related issues on the ballot are regulations on marijuana shops which mandate that storefronts remain no less than 1,000 feet from churches, schools, parks, libraries, and community and daycare centers. Dispensaries would also need to be 500 feet from drug rehabilitation centers and 150 feet from private homes. Regulations would also mandate that only state medical marijuana cards would be acceptable at stores, and that all marijuana be grown indoors at one location.