Lauderdale County voters made their wishes known on Tuesday as a ballot question about medical marijuana received overwhelming support.

On the ballot, county voters were asked whether they were for or against allowing cultivation, processing and sales of medical marijuana within unincorporated areas of the county.

Of the 14,918 votes cast, 8,190, or 58.4%, were in favor of allowing the medical marijuana industry to set up shop in the county, while 5,835 voters , or 41.6%, were against it.

The ballot question was added to the election in September after Lauderdale County Circuit Clerk Donna Jill Johnson notified county supervisors that a petition had gathered 1,500 or 20% of registered voters’ signatures, which triggered an election within 60 days. Since Tuesday’s election fell within the 60 day window, the county opted to put the question on the November 8 ballot to avoid the cost of a special election.

The petition process was written into the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act, which was passed by the state legislature earlier this year, as a way for voters to overrule county and city leaders’ decisions to opt-out of allowing the medical marijuana industry to establish itself in areas under their control. Local governments had 90 days from the act being signed into law to decide whether or not to opt out. The deadline passed earlier this year on May 3.

Prior to Tuesday’s vote, both Lauderdale County and the Town of Marion had chosen to opt out of the medical marijuana program for the time being while the City of Meridian chose to allow the marijuana industry to come in.

Although voters chose to open the county to medical marijuana businesses, it will still be some time before residents with medical marijuana cards will be able to fill their prescriptions. Both the Mississippi Department of Health and Department of Revenue are working through a logjam of applications for growers, testing sites, transportation companies, dispensaries, prescribing physicians and patients as the first crop of marijuana grown in Mississippi nears maturity.

It is yet unclear exactly when the first marijuana harvest will hit dispensary shelves, but estimates put the initial product being available near the first of the year.

Other races

Also on Tuesday, voters chose to send incumbent Republican Rep. Michael Gust back to Washington for another term as the representative for Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District.

In Lauderdale County, Guest received more than 68% of the vote.

Tuesday’s election also featured local judicial elections and two school board seats, the candidates for which were all incumbents running unopposed.

Court of Appeals Judge John Emfinger, Chancery Judges Charles Smith and Lawrence Primeaux, Circuit Judges Charles Wright and Robert Bailey, County Judges Lisa Howell and Veldore Young Graham and Lauderdale County School Board members Barbara Jones and Kelvin Jackson will all serve another term in office.