OKLAHOMA CITY - On Thursday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 that an initiative petition that would put the question of grocery stores selling wine to the voters could advance, the Tulsa World reports.

Convenience store owner Yousef Javadzadeh of Oklahoma City, along with anti-addiction groups, had filed a lawsuit against the petition. Supporters need to gather around 155,000 signatures to bring the issue before voters on the Nov. 6 ballot.

"I would say we are quite pleased," said Brian Howe, director of Oklahomans for Modern Laws. The group will circulate the petition. "We are looking forward to moving forward with the petition drive."

However, Howe said there might not be enough time to get the initiative on the ballot this year, which would mean the issue would be pushed to the 2014 election cycle. State Question 763 would allow counties of at least 50,000 residents vote on expanding retail wine sales. Wine sales would only be approved for grocery and warehouse club stores of at least 25,000 square feet.

Opponents claimed the measure violates the equal protection clauses of the Oklahoma and U.S. constitutions because similar entities (packaged store owners and grocery store operators) were treated differently.