In this June 30, 2015, file photo, Ian James, executive director of ResponsibleOhio, tells the media about the campaign to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio voters will have the chance to decide this fall whether marijuana should be legalized for medicinal and recreational use, the state's elections chief determined Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. (AP Photo/Ann Sanner, File)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio voters will have the chance to decide this fall whether marijuana should be legalized for medicinal and recreational use.

The state's elections chief said Wednesday that ResponsibleOhio's legalization proposal met the state's petition signature requirements to qualify for the November ballot.

Organizers had initially fallen short of valid signatures. They gathered some 44,000 more names to meet the roughly 306,000 signatures needed.

The proposed amendment would allow adults 21 and over to buy marijuana and establish a network of 10 authorized growing locations around the state.

The certification sets up a ballot fight with a separate proposal that asks voters if they want to ban monopolies and cartels from being added to Ohio's constitution. That issue takes aim at the marijuana-growing sites described in the proposed amendment.


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