August 17, 2016 4:48 PM

Elections expert dubs 2016 "The Year of Weed"

At NCSL, expert said “I thought it was the year of Pokemon, but that just wasn’t on the ballot.” Notably not on ballots is marriage or reproductive rights

CHICAGO – Tim Storey has dubbed the upcoming election cycle the Year of Weed.

Storey is the well-known and well-versed elections expert at the National Conference of State Legislatures. As one of the final sessions at last week’s NCSL Summit in Chicago, Storey and analyst Wendy Underhill presented an overview of initiatives and candidates in the upcoming election cycle, excluding a prediction on the presidential race.

The theme Storey floated for 2016 – so to speak – was the dominance of marijuana on state ballots. Eight states will put marijuana before the voters this year. According to NCSL’s numbers, half of states now have passed either medical or recreational marijuana initiatives.

By Kimberly Reeves