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Native Roots pushes for higher voter turnout with election offer of 1-cent joints

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October 30, 2021, 1:35 pm

Looking for a burning reason to vote this off-year election (other than the obvious incentive of keeping right-wing, anti-science, religious fundamentalists from taking over our public schools)? Well, put this in your pipe and smoke it (sort of).

If you vote on the burning issues in Eagle County’s coordinated mail-ballot election by 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 2, you can burn one for just one penny courtesy of Native Roots in EagleVail. That’s right, one cent gets you a joint, spliff, blunt, bone or a pre-roll (as the pot shops call them), but only if you vote.

And here’s the deal, even if you just moved here for ski season, as long as you’re at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen who moved here at least 22 days prior to Nov. 2, you’re eligible to vote and can register and vote right up till the end of the day on Tuesday. Go to the Eagle County clerk’s site for more details. Go figure, you can vote or join the military if you’re 18, but you can’t legally drink or smoke ganja.

Native Roots in EagleVail told RealVail.com that its statewide “buds for ballots” deal is part of the chain’s efforts across Colorado to reward 21-year-old registered voters for participating in the most essential civic duty – voting on critical issues such as our local school board race, the Avon recall debacle or statewide ballot initiatives such as a proposed marijuana tax. They’re not telling you how to vote: just vote.

And while it would be nice if you could come in through the end of election day with some proof that you actually voted, the marijuana retailer that launched right here in Eagle County understands that mail-in voters don’t get “I Voted” stickers. Sure, you can show them your Eagle County BallotTrax text showing them you voted, but it’s really just an honor system.

They will put you into their system showing you collected your one-cent pre-roll for voting, because it’s a one-one-cent-joint-per-voting-customer limit, but then you’re good to go. The deal, which requires no additional purchase, is good through the end of election day. Call the EagleVail store at (970) 470-4079.

For those of you still reading and wondering if it’s wise to promote voting on school board issues by linking elections to marijuana, please read this story written by Real Vail for the now-defunct Parent’s Handbook back in 2015.

And, full credit here, RealVail.com first read about this on ColoradoPols, which picked up on it from the Denver Post. Here’s an excerpt from the Pols blogpost:

The “buds for ballots” giveaway at Native Roots dispensary locations across the state (note stores in buzzkill Colorado Springs are medical marijuana patients only):

The dispensary of course isn’t asking questions about how you may have voted, but if they happen to draw out voters with a lower propensity toward voting for, let’s say, marijuana tax increases, that’s a side effect we suspect they can live with. As readers know, turnout for this year’s off-year elections is shaping up to be quite poor, so every vote including stoner votes have the potential to count for considerably more than average.

And for a selection of guides to help even the loaded voter do their civic duty intelligently, click here.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.