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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom