By literally one vote, voters in Harker Heights, Texas have approved an initiative to override their city council’s repeal of a voter-approved ordinance to decriminalize marijuana.
Last November voters in Harker Heights, a city with a population of around 26,000, overwhelmingly passed an initiative (Proposition A) to decriminalize marijuana on the city level by a vote of 64% to 36%. In the same election, four other Texas cities passed similar measures. Despite voters making their voice clear on the issue, the Harker Heights City Council took a vote following the initiative’s passage to repeal the proposal, effectively preventing it from taking effect.
This action led to activists submitting a new initiative that repeals the repeal in order to allow marijuana decrim to take effect despite the council’s opposition.
Proposition A asked: “Shall the ordinance repealing Chapter 133, ‘Marijuana Enforcement,’ of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Harker Heights be approved?”
The proposition won yesterday by one vote, 1,135 to 1,134.
“By voting to repeal Prop A, the Harker Heights City Council sent a clear message to their constituents that they don’t respect the will of the voters or the democracy they participate in,” Julie Oliver, Executive Director of Ground Game Texas, the group behind the marijuana initiative, said following the council’s vote last year. “These antidemocratic politicians are trying to throw away the votes of more than 5,000 Harker Heights residents — but we won’t let them.”
Oliver says that with this new referendum, “Ground Game Texas will ensure the will of voters isn’t trampled on by their local elected officials.”
