Manatee elections office has certified almost 15,000 medical pot signatures

The Manatee County Supervisor of Elections has certified 14,746 of the 21,595 petitions it received in support of medical marijuana amendment, Supervisor Mike Bennett said Thursday.

The measure last week had enough petition signatures for the November 2014 ballot, and the Florida Supreme Court earlier this week ruled the ballot language meets all legal requirements.

Statewide, the measure needed 683,149 valid petition signatures by Feb. 1 to qualify for the ballot.

Bennett said his office had certified 8,420 of 11,075 petition signatures received for a water and and conservation amendment.

“My staff has worked hard verifying these two petitions over the last 6 months," Bennett said in a news release. "Both amendments will appear on the November 2014 ballot."