Petition delivered in Jackson – No effort in Brownsville
August 21, 2014

The deadline for those who would get the wine in grocery store question on the November ballot was Thursday.

In Brownsville, Administrator of Elections Andrea Smothers said no petitions were turned in.

According to Kim Buckley of the Madison County Election Commission, petitioners reached the required number of 1,682 signatures with more than enough to spare. Buckley’s office is still counting and confirming signatures.

About 60 communities have collected enough signatures to place a referendum for supermarket wine sales on the November ballot.

Currently, wine can only be sold in liquor stores. But a state law that passed this year will allow it to be sold by grocery and convenience stores starting in July 2016 if citizens vote to approve the change.

Red White and Food, a coalition that lobbied for the change, has been keeping track of the collected signatures and said Thursday that so far 60 municipalities have submitted petitions to their election commissions, which verified them.