Pubdate: Wed, 16 Oct 2013
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)
Copyright: 2013 The Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.dailytribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1579
Author: Michael P. McConnell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)

FERNDALE POT PETITIONER CHARGED WITH VOTER FRAUD

The man who successfully petitioned to put a pot decriminalization 
proposal on Ferndale's ballot in the upcoming election was charged 
Tuesday with misdemeanor voter fraud.

Andrew Cissell, 25, is already charged in Oak Park with five felony 
counts of delivery and manufacture of marijuana. He is free on 
$50,000 cash bond in that case.

The marijuana charges were filed last month, several weeks after 
Cissell collected enough signatures to get the pot issue on the 
Ferndale ballot and went public with his campaign.

Cissell was arraigned Tuesday before Ferndale 43rd District 
Magistrate J. Patrick Brennan on a charge of making false statements 
on his pot initiative petitions and released on personal bond.

The charge was filed by Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper's 
office after Ferndale police turned the voter fraud case over to the 
Oakland County Sheriff's Department for investigation.

Police have said it appeared Cissell was living at his own house in 
Oak Park when he registered to vote as a Ferndale resident in June, 
using his father's address, just before beginning his pot petition drive.

The sheriff's Narcotics Enforcement Team did the investigation that 
led to the five marijuana charges against Cissell in Oak Park. The 
question over Cissell's correct address came up after sheriff's 
investigators did raids at two houses in Oak Park and Cissell's 
father's house in Ferndale. The Ferndale raid turned up no contraband.

Sheriff's investigators last month said the suspect's father told 
them Cissell had not lived in Ferndale in three years. His father, 
John Cissell, made a similar statement to two reporters at one of his 
son's court hearings in Oak Park last month.

Ferndale City Clerk Cherilynn Brown said Tuesday the pot 
decriminalization proposal remains on the city ballot for the Nov. 5 election.

"In terms of changing the issue on the ballot or the outcome of the 
vote there is nothing in election law that speaks to this situation," 
Brown said.

Brown has sought advice from county and state election officials as 
the legal cases against Cissell have made their way through the 
courts. Thus far, it doesn't appear that Cissell's legal troubles 
will affect the outcome of the pot decriminalization vote next month.

It remains to be seen whether authorities will challenge the outcome 
of the Ferndale pot proposal if it is approved by voters. Ferndale 
elected officials several years ago approved dispensaries for medical 
marijuana to locate in the city. But the one that did open -- 
Clinical Relief -- was raided by the county sheriff's SWAT team and 
seven people connected with the dispensary had charges against them 
reinstated by the Michigan Court of Appeals last month.

Cissell was working with a statewide pro-marijuana group called the 
Safer Michigan Coalition until his arrest. The SMC has pot 
decriminalization proposals on city ballots in Lansing and Jackson.

Ferndale mayoral candidate Craig Covey is now the SMC spokesman for 
the Ferndale pot proposal.

"Everyone I have talked to has said they are voting 'Yes' on the 
proposal," Covey said Monday. "They are overwhelmingly in favor of it."

Proposal A in Ferndale would decriminalize the use, possession or 
transfer of less than an ounce of marijuana on private property by 
anyone 21 or older.

Ferndale Police Chief Timothy Collins and some city officials have 
blasted the proposal, saying that cities cannot independently 
supersede state and federal laws that already prohibit marijuana. 
Michigan voters approved the use of medical marijuana for registered 
patients in 2008 with limitations on the amount of possession by 
patients and caregivers.

Federal law still bans the use or possession of any amount of marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom