A proposal to ease penalties for marijuana possession in Albuquerque now faces a higher hurdle to get on the city's ballot.
City Attorney David Tourek says the number of valid voter signatures needed on petitions to qualify a measure for the ballot is just over 14,200, not the just over 11,200 that city officials previously said.
According to the Albuquerque Journal Tourek says officials erroneously calculated the signature requirement, which is based on how many people voted in the last regular city election.
Supporters of the marijuana proposal submitted more than 16,000 signatures on Monday's deadline, but many petition signatures typically are invalidated because they're not from registered voters who live in the city.
Proposal supporter Pat Davis says it's not fair to raise the requirement at this point.
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