Lawyer Wants Recount of Six-Vote Failure of Lapeer Marijuana Proposal

A local attorney who pushed to get a ballot initiative to relax the city's law on possession of marijuana before voters is expected to file a request for a recount this week.

MLive says Bernard Jocuns will file the petition for the recount this week after an initiative that would have allowed residents 21 and over to possess less than an ounce of marijuana on private property lost by just six votes. Jocuns said the proposal "actually won three out of four districts" and there were 71 no votes in one district, the largest margin either way of the four districts. Jocuns said "to me, that's a little bit suspect."

The Lapeer marijuana initiative was one of 11 around the state. Six passed and five were defeated, including Lapeer.

The Lapeer County Clerk says any recount request will need to be approved by the state Board of Canvassers and that it would likely not happen before the first week of December. Election inspectors would hand count the ballots with supervision from the county's board of canvassers in order to make a final determination on the vote.