WASILLA — A woman looking to start a marijuana business plans to challenge the Matanuska-Susitna Borough over claims that a ballot measure prohibiting pot sales in unincorporated areas was created using fraudulent methods.
Amy Tuma plans to file a lawsuit at the Alaska Supreme Court on Monday. The measure at the center of the suit, which will appear on Tuesday’s ballot, would limit marijuana businesses to Houston if it passes. Wasilla and Palmer have already banned the businesses, KTVA-TV reported .
Tuma claims the author of the petition that got the proposal on the ballot signed it twice and that many signatures were submitted a day late but still notarized by someone who signed the petition.
“I’m not trying to take away the people’s right to vote,” Tuma said. “I’m trying to make it done legally.”
Borough officials would not hear Tuma’s case until after the election.
“This injunctive relief cannot be granted because it will virtually destroy the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s ability to conduct a clear and organized election,” borough Attorney Nicholas Spiropoulos said in a statement last month.
Palmer Judge David Zwink agreed, saying the lawsuit would be handled after the Oct. 4 election.
“We don’t have a choice but to take it to Supreme Court because Judge Zwink said that anything that happened right now would disrupt the vote. But that’s the entire point. The vote should have never come in the first place,” Tuma said.
Borough officials did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails regarding the lawsuit.
