The City of Magnolia recently filed a petition to include a liquor sales option on the May ballot. But according to the Montgomery County Elections Administrator Carol Gaultney, the petition failed due to a lack of qualified signatures.

On Feb. 8 the city council voted to hold a general election May 14 and to include one proposition on the ballot. The proposition was to call for allowing the legal sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed beverages, within the city limits. Currently, within the city limits the sale of beer and wine is legal.

If the proposition were to be on the May ballot and residents voted for the idea, then liquor stores would be able to develop within the city limits.

4A Economic Development Corporation President Jonny Williams previously stated that the city is missing out on sales tax from liquor stores because residents simply drive just outside of Magnolia to get liquor. He added that the need for the sale of all alcohol to be legal was not about the alcohol, but about the sales tax.

In order to place the proposition on the ballot the City of Magnolia would have needed 35 percent of the number of people who voted in the last governor’s election to sign a petition, according to Gaultney. She said that 35 percent would have meant the petition required 126 signatures from registered voters in Magnolia.

A petition was issued Feb. 8 and returned to the Montgomery County Elections Office Feb. 14.

However, the petition was not approved because not enough signatures met the requirements.

Gaultney explained that there were “quite a few” issues on the petition.

She said a few signatures were on a copy of the petition and not the actual petition.

“It has to be on the petition issued, it can’t be on a copy,” she said.

She also explained that residents had signed for their family members, which was not accepted while other signatures lacked a date of birth.

According to the Texas Secretary of State, signers must also print their name, provide their address, date of birth and the date they signed the petition. The signature must be in the signers’ own handwriting and the signer must be a registered voter residing within the area the petition is being circulated.

Gaultney explained that the City of Magnolia can proceed with the process again later in the year for the elections in November.

City Administrator Paul Mendes said that although the petition failed the city did get a positive response from residents.

“We do know now that it is a worthwhile project,” he said.

He explained that this type of petition has not been circulated in many years so the city and its residents were unsure of the regulations and ran out of time to properly execute the project.

Mendes said city council aims to begin the petitioning procedures again during the summer in order to have all requirements met for the November elections.

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