Over the years, from legislative policy to ballot initiatives, Stones’ Phones has worked with drug policy and criminal justice reform partners to pass progressive marijuana measures across the country.
Through these experiences, we’ve learned that when marijuana reform is on the ballot, voters love talking about it on Telephone Town Halls. From California to Colorado to DC, we’ve found some interesting statistics on how voters participate on marijuana related Telephone Town Halls. Compared to other ballot initiative Telephone Town Halls, marijuana related Telephone Town Halls show:
- A 35% increase in the duration of participation on marijuana related Telephone Town Halls
- A 2.2% bump in those joining the event for some period of time
- An average of 443 more participants for a universe of 20,000
Not only do folks love talking about cannabis, these conversations make a difference. One of our most notable cannabis-related victories was with DC’s Initiative 71 in 2014. Pre-election survey results at the beginning of September indicated the biggest gap in support for marijuana legalization was amongst black voters.
Coordinating our Telephone Town Halls with racial justice messaging mailers, we saw a 23% increase in support on Election Day, ultimately winning almost every demographic of black voters and passing Initiative 71 in DC.
Also in 2014, Stones’ did a live ID program in Florida where medical marijuana was on the ballot. The goal of the program was to test if there would be an increase in voter turnout solely because marijuana was on the ballot. Overall, 59% of folks who responded said that this would make them more likely to go to the polls. You can read more about this program here.
In 2016, marijuana is on the ballot in nine states. Like LGBTQ marriage equality, marijuana reform is an issue folks need to have a conversation about to change their hearts and minds. Contact us to learn more about how we can work with you to pass common sense marijuana laws.
Republican Tom Tancredo talks to conservative voters in Colorado in 2012 about Amendment 64, which regulated the sale of recreational marijuana in Colorado.
Click on the image below to hear some of this Telephone Town Hall.
