The Maui County Clerk has deemed invalid about half of the signatures submitted in support of a ballot initiative to allow Maui County voters to decide whether to temporarily ban genetically modified farming.

“The SHAKA Movement submitted 9,768 signatures, and our office has reviewed the submission to determine the amount of valid versus invalid signatures on the petition,” Maui County Clerk Danny Mateo said in a press release. “We have determined that 4,720 registered voters in the County of Maui have signed the petition, while 5,048 signatures have been deemed invalid.”

The SHAKA Movement has 20 days to gather 3,745 more valid signatures to get the temporary moratorium on the ballot this year. In total, the group needs 8,465 registered voters to sign the petition.

The ratio between valid and invalid signatures is consistent with previous attempts in Maui County to get voter initiatives on the ballot, none of which have been successful.

Mark Sheehan, a board member of the SHAKA Movement, said earlier this month that the organization had collected a total of 14,000 signatures in anticipation that many of them might be found invalid.

The group also stepped up its efforts to gather signatures by paying people $5 per name, with a cap of $20,000.

Click here to see the full results from the county clerk.

Read Civil Beat’s coverage of the Maui voter initiative:

Maui Anti-GMO Group Is Paying Petition Signature Gatherers $5 Per Name

Maui Residents Want to Let Voters Decide on GMO Ban

Photo: An aerial view of Monsanto’s GMO crops on Molokai. (PF Bentley/Civil Beat)