A group is collecting signatures to get a proposal on the ballot asking voters to legalize alcohol sales in Columbia County.
Vote for Growth in Columbia County announced Tuesday that it will work to get the measure on the ballot this year.
Committee chairman David Nelson says Columbia County outlawed alcohol sales in 1943 but that the issue hasn't come up for a vote in decades.
Nelson tells the Banner-News that legalizing alcohol sales will promote economic growth. He says Columbia County is losing out on revenue that's now going to neighboring counties and parishes in Louisiana where alcohol sales are legal.
The group must gather signatures from 38 percent of registered voters in the county - or about 6,300 people - to qualify for the ballot.
