Legal Marijuana Now Failed to Meet Requirements to Remain a Major Party

The Legal Marijuana Now party will no longer be recognized as a major political party in Minnesota after the state Supreme Court ruled Friday that it had failed to meet legal requirements to maintain that status.

The court’s unanimous decision directs the Secretary of State’s office to “take all appropriate steps necessary” to ensure that Legal Marijuana Now is not considered a major party in the August primary and general elections in November this year. Two judges did not participate in the judgment.

In February, the state’s DFL party filed a petition with the court, claiming the LMN failed to follow state law when filing its certification for major party status. The DFL’s changes to election law passed last spring raised the bar for political parties to be considered a major party.

The court found that the party “failed to meet the requirements to be a major party” by not maintaining a state central committee subject to the control of a party congress, as required by law.

“With major party status comes major party responsibilities, and only the Minnesota DFL and the Minnesota GOP have consistently met that standard,” DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement regarding the decision .

The Legal Marijuana Now Party, which has been a major party in Minnesota since 2018, may attempt to qualify to enter the election as a third party.

Major party status has benefits including automatic ballot access, campaign subsidies through state income tax collection, and the ability to nominate candidates in the presidential primary election of State.

A district court judge also recently sided with the DFL, finding that the LMN had failed to create committees or meet leadership requirements under the law. They also held “no conventions for Minnesota’s eight congressional districts and at least 45 Minnesota state legislative districts or counties.”

Some of these requirements have been in law for years, but changes made last session required political parties to report them to the secretary of state’s office.

Previously, a party could achieve major party status by having at least one statewide candidate on the general election ballot who received at least 5% of the vote. In addition to adding other requirements, Democrats raised the threshold to 8 percent of the vote in elections that begin this fall.

Democrats have criticized the Legal Marijuana Now party, alleging that Republicans recruited candidates to run under their party’s banner in previous elections, siphoning off enough votes from their candidates to give Republicans victory in key races.

The secretary of state’s office asked the court to rule by May 15 to give local election administrators enough time to understand their requirements for the August primary election and the November general election.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.