(COLORADO SPRINGS) — On Wednesday, Feb. 12, a district court judge granted an Emergency Motion to Stay Order filed by the City of Colorado Springs, which, depending on an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court, would keep a marijuana repeal question on the April 2025 municipal election ballot.
According to a spokesperson, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, the City filed with the District Court an Emergency Motion to Stay Order Pending Appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court, in an effort to keep a repeal of Ballot Question 300 on the April municipal ballot.
Ballot Question 300 was approved in November by voters, allowing recreational marijuana to be sold by existing medical dispensaries after an application process. However, some City Councilmembers argued that the question’s wording may have been confusing to voters, and therefore the repeal in April was necessary to determine the true will of the people. Council voted on Jan. 28 in favor of placing the repeal on the April ballot.
A judge blocked that repeal on Feb. 10, however, ruling that the City Council’s vote to place the question on the municipal ballot violated the Colorado Constitution. Then on Wednesday, Feb. 12, a judge granted the City’s stay order, stipulating that the wording of the April ballot question must be changed.
According to the city, the judge’s order was not received by the City’s 2 p.m. deadline on Wednesday for printing of ballots for overseas U.S. citizens and active-duty military. The printing deadline ensured ballots would be mailed by the City Code-mandated deadline of Friday, Feb. 14.
“As a result of receiving the judge’s order on the stay past the City’s printing deadline and the uncertainty of the form of the ballot language amid pending litigation, the City will not be able to mail overseas U.S. citizens and active-duty military ballots on Friday,” the city said in a statement. “The City does not want to treat its 4,848 overseas active-duty military and overseas citizens differently than its domestic electorate. It is important for them to have the same clarity and content on their ballot. The City is working as quickly as possible within the court system to resolve this issue.”
