Florida Marijuana Campaign Sues State Over Invalidation Of 71,000 Signatures With Turn-In Deadline Weeks Away

A Florida campaign seeking to put marijuana legalization on the state’s
2026 ballot has filed a new lawsuit against state officials, alleging that
they improperly directed the invalidation of about 71,000 signatures as a
turn-in deadline quickly approaches.

Smart & Safe Florida has been fighting several legal battles this cycle to
ensure that its initiative is able to qualify for ballot placement.

The latest lawsuit, filed in the Leon County circuit court on Monday,
claims Secretary of State Cord Byrd (R) directed county election officials
to invalidate about 42,000 signatures from so-called “inactive” voters and
roughly 29,000 signatures collected by out-of-state petitioners.

This comes after another court upheld a previous decision to strike about
200,000 signatures that the state said were invalid because the petitions
didn’t include the full text of the proposed initiative. The campaign
contested the legal interpretation, but it declined to appeal the decision
based on their confidence they’d collected enough signatures to make up the
difference.

Now, with a February 1 deadline to submit 880,062 valid signatures just
about a month away, Smart & Safe Florida is signaling that the additional
invalidations could jeopardize their chances of making the ballot.
Currently, the state has validated 675,307 signatures.

“Time is of the essence,” the new lawsuit says, according to The News
Service of Florida. “The Florida secretary of state has issued two unlawful
directives that, unless stopped, will invalidate the citizen initiative
petitions signed by more than 70,000 registered voters.”

With respect to the “inactive” voters, the term refers to those who are
registered but for whom mail is marked as undeliverable, resulting in their
addresses being considered unconfirmed. This group can become unregistered
if they don’t vote in two consecutive general elections.

“The absurd result of the secretary’s directive is that ‘inactive’ voters
can vote for the proposed amendment but cannot have their petitions counted
to place the proposed amendment on the ballot to vote for it,” the lawsuit
says.

The out-of-state petitioner issue, meanwhile, is about the enforcement of a
law passed earlier this year barring non-Florida residents from collecting
signatures. Amid legal challenges, a federal court issued an injunction
blocking its enforcement for about two months before that injunction was
stayed by another judge.

Smart & Safe Florida is arguing that signatures collected during the
injunction window should not be invalidated, as they were lawfully obtained
while the law was not in effect.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Florida’s attorney general asked the state
Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the legalization initiative.
The court accepted the request and set a schedule for state officials and
the cannabis campaign to file briefs next month.

The campaign said last month that it’d collected more than one million
signatures to put the cannabis measure on the ballot, but it’s also challenged
officials at the state Supreme Court level over delays the certification
process, arguing that the review of the ballot content and summary should
have moving forward months ago when it reached an initial signature
threshold. The state then agreed to move forward with the processing.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) campaigned heavily against an earlier version
of the legalization proposal, which received a majority of voters last year
but not enough to meet the 60 percent threshold required to pass a
constitutional amendment. Former Attorney General Ashley Moody (R)
unsuccessfully contested the prior initiative in the courts.

In March, meanwhile, two Democratic members of Congress representing
Florida asked the federal government to investigate what they described as
“potentially unlawful diversion” of millions in state Medicaid funds via a
group with ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). The money was used to fight
against a citizen ballot initiative, vehemently opposed by the governor,
that would have legalized marijuana for adults.

The lawmakers’ letter followed allegations that a $10 million donation from
a state legal settlement was improperly made to the Hope Florida
Foundation, which later sent the money to two political nonprofits, which
in turn sent $8.5 million to a campaign opposing Amendment 3.

The governor said in February that the newest marijuana legalization
measure is in “big time trouble” with the state Supreme Court, predicting
it will be blocked from going before voters next year.

“There’s a lot of different perspectives on on marijuana,” DeSantis said.
“It should not be in our Constitution. If you feel strongly about it, you
have elections for the legislature. Go back candidates that you believe
will be able to deliver what your vision is on that.”

“But when you put these things in the Constitution—and I think, I mean, the
way they wrote, there’s all kinds of things going on in here. I think it’s
going to have big time trouble getting through the Florida Supreme Court,”
he said.

The latest initiative was filed with the secretary of state’s office just
months after the initial version failed during the November 2024
election—despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

Smart & Safe Florida is hoping the revised version will succeed in 2026.
The campaign—which in the last election cycle received tens of millions of
dollars from cannabis industry stakeholders, principally the multi-state
operator Trulieve—incorporated certain changes into the new version that
seem responsive to criticism opponents raised during the 2024 push.

For example, it now specifically states that the “smoking and vaping of
marijuana in any public place is prohibited.”Another section asserts that
the legislature would need to approve rules dealing with the “regulation of
the time, place, and manner of the public consumption of marijuana.”

Last year, the governor accurately predicted that the 2024 cannabis measure
from the campaign would survive a legal challenge from the state attorney
general. It’s not entirely clear why he feels this version would face a
different outcome.

While there’s uncertainty around how the state’s highest court will
navigate the measure, a poll released in February showed overwhelming
bipartisan voter support for the reform—with 67 percent of Florida voters
backing legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of
independents and 55 percent of Republicans.


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps,
charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.*


*Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on
Patreon to get access. —*

In the background, a recent poll from a Trump-affiliated research firm
found that nearly 9 in 10 Florida voters say they should have the right to
decide to legalize marijuana in the state.

Meanwhile, a pro-legalization GOP state lawmaker recently filed a bill to
amend state law to codify that the public use of marijuana is prohibited.

Rep. Alex Andrade (R), the sponsor, said earlier this year that embracing
cannabis reform is a way for the Republican party to secure more votes from
young people.

Separately, Florida medical marijuana officials are actively revoking the
registrations of patients and caregivers with drug-related criminal records.
The policy is part of broad budget legislation signed into law earlier this
year by DeSantis. The provisions in question direct the state Department of
Health (DOH) to cancel registrations of medical marijuana patients and
caregivers if they’re convicted of—or plead guilty or no contest
to—criminal drug charges.

*Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.*

The post Florida Marijuana Campaign Sues State Over Invalidation Of 71,000
Signatures With Turn-In Deadline Weeks Away appeared first on Marijuana
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