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Ferndale Clerk: Arrest Of Marijuana Advocate Calls His Residency, Ballot Initiative Into Question


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Ferndale — The city clerk said Tuesday she has asked police to investigate whether voter registration fraud occurred when signatures were collected for a Nov. 5 ballot proposal to decriminalize marijuana.

 

Ferndale City Clerk Cherilynn Brown said Tuesday there are questions about the residency of Andrew Cissell, who spearheaded the effort to collect the signatures to put the issue on the ballot.

 

Cissell, 25, is in the Oakland County Jail on five counts of selling marijuana to a police informant in Oak Park three times since August. During subsequent search warrants after Cissell’s Sept. 8 arrest, Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team investigators said they found more than 100 plants and 34 bagged ounces of marijuana and evidence Cissell may have misstated his legal residence and actually lives in neighboring Oak Park, not Ferndale.

 

Brown said Cissell submitted a voter registration application at a Michigan Secretary of State branch office on June 10 listing his residence as 921 W. Drayton in Ferndale. His arrest and the subsequent investigation last week on unrelated charges raised questions about whether Cissell resides in Ferndale or Oak Park.

 

“The Michigan Election Code requires an investigation into the facts when credible information is received of possible fraudulent voter registration,” Brown said, adding she had filed a complaint with the Ferndale police department.

 

Ferndale Chief of Police Timothy Collins said: “We have conducted a preliminary investigation which lends some credibility to the allegation. I have requested that the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office review our preliminary investigation and to conduct a formal voter registration fraud investigation if warranted.

 

“If warranted, the investigation will be forwarded to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office for prosecutorial review.”

According to Brown Cissell signed each petition sheet and listed the Ferndale address in the notarized “Affidavit of Circulator.”

Whether a conviction on fraudulent voter registration will affect the ballot proposal’s validity is also being examined.

 

Cissell’s personal property and documents were found by officers inside two Oak Park addresses, where marijuana grow operations were seized.

 

Investigators are also looking into whether Cissell violated conditions of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Cissell was allegedly found in possession of four caregiver cards and a patient card all issued by the state of Michigan for legal use and possession of marijuana.

 

While a caregiver card permits holders to grow and sell a limited amount of marijuana to specific patients, it does not allow excessive amounts to be grown or stored or sales to other non-patients.

 

The police informant who allegedly made several buy

s from Cissell is not a medical marijuana patient, investigators said.

Cissell is a Democratic candidate for state representative in the 27th District, which includes portions of Ferndale and Oak Park.

He had planned an Oct. 6 rally at Geary Park to garner support for both the ordinance and his campaign for office next year.

If convicted of the offense, a felony, Cissell could be sentenced to four years in prison.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130917/METRO02/309170123#ixzz2fGOdpgXX

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The City clerk said Tuesday she has asked police to investigate whether voter registration fraud occurred when signatures were collected for a Nov. 5 ballot proposal to decriminalize marijuana

 

I think they will try and say the signatures  our now no good and stop it from being on the Ballot that would be an easy way out for the City but i do know that Ferndale has  a medical marihuana Law before 2008 

 

Maybe the clerk knows all the Marijuana Haters are watching  her

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