Smithville Voters to Decide Another Liquor by the Drink Referendum

Smithville voters will decide in November whether they want to give restaurants in the city the opportunity to sell liquor by the drink.
According to Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley, Randy Paris has submitted to the election commission office a petition with the required number of valid signatures to get the referendum on the ballot in conjunction with the Tennessee General and US Presidential Election on Tuesday, November 8 subject to action by the county election commission.
The wording of the referendum would ask voters to either vote “For the legal sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises in Smithville” or “Against the legal sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises in Smithville”
The same issue has failed at the polls twice before.
In 2012 a referendum to get liquor in Smithville restaurants failed by a vote of 402 to 333. Two years later, a similar referendum failed by just 15 votes, 412 to 397. In the same election November 2014, Smithville voters narrowly approved another referendum to allow retail package stores to sell liquor within the city. The vote was 406 to 401.
Smithville now has two liquor stores.
If approved by the voters, the City of Smithville would have to establish an ordinance regarding city regulations but the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission would have the sole authority over the issuance of liquor licenses to eligible Smithville businesses for consumption on the premises.