Last-Minute Voter Verification Changes In Florida Threaten Cannabis Campaign’s 2026 Bid

Last week, an official with the Florida Secretary of State’s Office issued
new directives to the county supervisors of elections that complicate the
state’s voter verification process and could disrupt a bid to put an
adult-use cannabis legalization question on the 2026 ballot, the Orlando
Sentinel reports.

The order came from Maria Matthews, director of the state Division of
Elections, but the Secretary of State is a governor-appointed role, and
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has long opposed adult-use cannabis reforms in the
Sunshine State.

The Smart & Safe Florida campaign needs to submit just over 880,000 valid
voter signatures before February 1 to qualify for November ballots.

The campaign has already accused the state of dragging out the approval
process — last year, advocates claimed that officials were purposefully
delaying approving the petition to make the signature-gathering process
more difficult.

Additionally, state officials disqualified over 200,000 signatures last
year, saying they were invalid because voters had not been provided with
the full text of the constitutional amendment.

If the question does ultimately make it onto the ballots, as a
constitutional amendment, it will require at least 60% of voter support to
pass. In 2024, a cannabis legalization amendment received jus 56% of the
vote and failed.