Lubbock voters resoundingly rejected a proposed ordinance that proponents said would have decriminalized the possession of four ounces or less marijuana in the city limits.

Proposition A passed with 64.62 of the 31,775 votes cast in early voting and on election day in Saturday’s municipal election, according to final but unofficial results from the Lubbock County Elections Office.

The ordinance came about in August 2023 when a local group called Freedom Act Lubbock began the process of decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana in the city.

The group successfully collected enough verified signatures to trigger a citizen-initiated ordinance to the city’s charter, allowing the Lubbock City Council to hear and vote on the proposed ordinance. After hosting a public hearing for citizens to comment, the council unanimously voted against the ordinance in November 2023.

The group elected to send it to the voters, which is why it was on the May ballot.

Grassroots citizen group Project Destiny, which led the push for the successful citizen-led Sanctuary City for the Unborn abortion ordinance in 2021, led efforts against Proposition A.

On Saturday night, Paul Stell with Project Destiny said he and the organization’s volunteers were pleased with the results.

“We’re thankful that our fellow citizens turned out and sent a very clear message that this proposition doesn’t align with the values of the Lubbock community,” Stell said.

He said the organization mobilized on this issue in particular — sending out hundreds of volunteers — because it wants to protect families and children.

“We want the kids in the schools to have the life and support their parents and friends that have a good influence on them and be able to grow into successful adults,” Stell said. “We don’t want to have families that had the pain of losing someone because of a drug addiction or having to go through the pain of drug addiction.”

While this issue raised a lot of debate around Lubbock with signs for and against Proposition A, Stell said the organization encourages these debates but to do it in a West Texas way.

“In our country, we’ve gotten where we can’t disagree and get along, and we need to do that in Lubbock,” Stell said. “That’s West Texas values. “You’ll sit down, respect each other, talk about it, and work for mutual benefit.”

Moving forward, Stell said the organization aims to serve as watchman over the City of Lubbock and work with the new council and mayor to advocate for causes.

“We want to be collaborative and have an open discussion about the issues,” Stell said.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock voters reject Proposition A to decriminalize some marijuana