Lubbock voters reject Proposition A to decriminalize some marijuana
Lubbock voters resoundingly rejected a proposed ordinance that proponents said would have decriminalized the possession of four ounces or less of marijuana in the city limits.
Proposition A failed with 64.62 of the 31,775 votes cast in early voting and on election day in Saturday's municipal election, according to final but unofficial results from the Lubbock County Elections Office.
The ordinance came about in August 2023 when a local group called Freedom Act Lubbock began the process of decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana in the city.
The group successfully collected enough verified signatures to trigger a citizen-initiated ordinance through the city charter, allowing the Lubbock City Council to hear and vote on the proposed ordinance. After hosting a public hearing for citizens to comment, the council unanimously voted against the ordinance in November 2023.
The group elected to send it to the voters, which is why it was on the May ballot.
Grassroots citizen group Project Destiny, which led the push for the successful citizen-led Sanctuary City for the Unborn abortion ordinance in 2021, led efforts against Proposition A.
On Saturday night, Paul Stell with Project Destiny said he and the organization's volunteers were pleased with the results.
"We're thankful that our fellow citizens turned out and sent a very clear message that this proposition doesn't align with the values of the Lubbock community," Stell said.
He said the organization mobilized on this issue in particular — sending out hundreds of volunteers — because it wants to protect families and children.
"We want the kids in the schools to have the life and support their parents and friends that have a good influence on them and be able to grow into successful adults," Stell said. "We don't want to have families that had the pain of losing someone because of a drug addiction or having to go through the pain of drug addiction."
While this issue raised a lot of debate around Lubbock with signs for and against Proposition A, Stell said the organization encourages these debates but to do it in a West Texas way.
"In our country, we've gotten where we can't disagree and get along, and we need to do that in Lubbock," Stell said. "That's West Texas values. You'll sit down, respect each other, talk about it, and work for mutual benefit."
Moving forward, Stell said the organization aims to serve as a watchman over the City of Lubbock and work with the new council and mayor to advocate for causes.
"We want to be collaborative and have an open discussion about the issues," Stell said.
Freedom Act advocates respond
On the other side of town, advocates for what was called the Freedom Act, Lubbock were disappointed with the results but said they learned some lessons for the next time they bring forward issues like decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana.
"The perennial problem in Lubbock is voter turnout," said Kim Gonzalez. "Even though we had a historic amount of voters this time, it wasn't the right mix for us. We're gonna continue to work in Lubbock and continue to make progress."
This election cycle saw a historic number of voters cast ballots, totaling over 35,000 individuals. Gonzalez said this was in part due to the Freedom Act pushing to get the ordinance on the ballot.
"When you look historically at the voter turnout for a May election in Lubbock, Texas, we usually have around 20,000 voters, and there's only been a handful of times when that was much more and each time it was an issues-driven election," Gonzalez said.
Even though the vote failed for the organization, Adam Hernandez — a member of Freedom Act Lubbock and a mayoral candidate this cycle — said the proposition started a larger debate about marijuana reform.
Even though notable state and local officials opposed the proposition, Hernadez, who finished third in a six-man mayoral race, said it did help the cause in the long run.
"That raised the profile of this issue at the state level and had the entire state talking about it," Hernandez said. "That is a contribution that I think shouldn't be overlooked that Lubbock accomplished — that we accomplished. That the people that worked on Prop A accomplished."
Hernandez said the ordinance also served as a temperature check on how voters felt about marijuana reform, not only in Lubbock but across the state and nation.
With the ordinance having failed, what's next for Freedom Act Lubbock?
Both Gonzalez and Hernandez said that remains up in the air, but either through the organization or another hyperlocal organization — Lubbock Compact — they will take on the challenge of motivating more North and East Lubbock residents to get out and vote.
"We're gonna be here. We're not going anywhere. Lubbock Compact is not going anywhere. Our work is not going anywhere," Hernandez said. "Maybe sometime in the near future, we bring Freedom Act Lubbock back when we're ready."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock voters reject Proposition A to decriminalize some marijuana
