The campaign is casting itself as a bipartisan effort, recruiting an initial list of 50 South Dakotans to endorse the initiatives, including Chuck Parkinson who worked under Republican President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Senator Jim Abdnor.

Drey Samuelson, the group’s political director, said it planned to run a “grassroots campaign,” working to convince people of the benefits of marijuana, including its potential for new business and tax revenue. The group also plans to encourage people to vote absentee, hoping that an increased voter turnout will push the initiatives to get the majority of votes they need to pass.

Legalizing recreational marijuana would be a large jump for a state where lawmakers recently battled for nearly a year to get industrial hemp legalized. When marijuana was last on the ballot in 2010, 63% of voters decided against medical pot. And Noem vetoed a bill to create an industrial hemp program last year, arguing that it would be a gateway to legalizing pot. This year, she struck a compromise with legislators to approve hemp if they funded beefed up drug law enforcement.

Ian Fury, a spokesman for the governor, said, “The governor has always opposed legalizing marijuana and therefore opposes these measures.”

She has said that marijuana is a gateway to more addictive and harmful drugs and that people who work in law enforcement and addiction counseling have asked her to oppose it.