Over five per cent of registered voters in Delta South signed the Sensible BC petition, according to the group.
Sensible BC, which for the past three months has been campaigning to trigger a provincial referendum on decriminalizing marijuana possession, wasn't able to collect the signatures of more than 10 per cent of registered voters in each of the province's 85 electoral districts by Monday.
The Sensible BC website stated it succeeded in 20 districts, came close in five others, got over halfway in 23 and got less than halfway in 37 districts. The 10 per cent threshold in Delta South equated to 3,477 signatures.
Local organizer Ralph Howey said a lack of volunteers and not having an area like a SkyTrain station to solicit signatures were factors.
"We are disappointed, but I'm not surprised," he said, adding the way the initiative is structured through Elections BC it's almost designed to fail.
The campaign collected about 210,000 signatures, noted Sensible BC director Dana Larsen in a post on the group's website.
"We didn't achieve our ultimate goal this time around, but this is still a remarkable feat, and everyone involved in this campaign should feel proud of our accomplishments so far," he wrote, adding Sensible BC will definitely launch another signature gathering campaign.
