2 New Sunland Park Dispensaries Are Coming – Maybe

2 proposed new dispensaries in Sunland Park, New Mexico got shot down but now, thanks to a weird Sunland Park City Council voting rule, they may be ok after all.

Ok, from here on, read carefully - this is a little confusing. (If you recently visited Sunland Park, wait until it wears off because, again, it's confusing.) Chadcor Holdings wanted to open 2 new dispensaries, ("Station X" and "Cronica"), but both were nixed by the city Overlords. Turns out, they're approved after all.

It has to do with how 3 particular votes were counted. Station X, got 3 votes "for", 2 against and one council member abstained. Cronica, got 3 votes "for", 1 against and 2 council members abstained.

Why Weren't The Dispensaries Approved?

Good question. By that count, Station X passed 3 - 2 with 1 "no vote". If you count the ghost vote as "yes", it wins 4 - 2. If you count it as a "no", it's tied at 3 and the Mayor would be the tiebreaker. Since he voted "yes" for Cronica, I think it's a safe assumption that he would have voted yes for Station X too.

Station X won and, according to this graph, so did Cronica. It's clearly 4 "yes", 2 "no" and the "unvote". That means Cronica wins, 4 - 2. If you count the missing vote as a "no", it still wins, 4 - 3 and if you count it as a yes, it wins 5 - 2..

Yet, approval was denied. Told you it was confusing but wait, this water gets muddier.

What Could Change The Outcome?

Enter the rule book.

City officials now say that may not have been correct because of a technicality in a 1992 ordinance stating that abstentions count with the majority, but only when items are not ordinances and regulations. - kfox

READ MORE: New Mexico Dispensary Has A Texas Problem

That means, in both these cases, the absentee votes would have been "for". Again, there is (STILL), no reason to deny the dispensaries. Right?

The Dispensaries Are Approved

For now. I don't know what kind of tomfoolery is happening in Sunland Park but it appears somebody does not want these dispensaries allowed to open. (I've heard rumors ... strictly rumors ... mind you, that certain council members have conflicting business interests. "He said, she said" stuff so, do with that, what you will.

The Dispensaries May Not Be Approved

Now that this newly discovered rule has somehow changed the dispensary "no" to  a "yes",, (and despite the fact that the dispensaries should have passed in the first place, any - freakin' - way), it's still not over.

Sunland Park City Council members are apparently being given the option to change their vote(s). So, here we go again - 2nd verse, same as the first.