A Florida campaign working to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the 2026 ballot is suing the state for allegedly taking “illegal” steps to force it to invalidate about 200,000 voter signatures it submitted.

Smart & Safe Florida filed suit against Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Inspector of Elections Mark Earley last week in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit, alleging that the secretary’s signature verification criteria invalidate petitions that do not include the full text of the initiative.

That rule “was not anticipated by the state” regarding voting requirements, the campaign said. However, the Secretary earlier this month “ordered all Supervisors of Elections to invalidate more than 200,000 petitions from the Plaintiff, which the Supervisors had specifically verified against statutory criteria.”

A spokesperson for the campaign told Marijuana Moment on Monday that the lawsuit “requires the Secretary of State to follow Florida law and prevent the State from denying the voices of Florida voters who have signed petitions.”

“We’re asking the courts to enforce Florida law, it’s that simple,” they said. “The state is trying wrongly after changing the rules and denying these registered voters their voice in the process.”

The lawsuit, first notify Politico noted that the secretary’s decision to target the cancellation of petitions “comes less than four months before the February 1, 2026, ballot verification deadline.”

At the beginning of the secretariat Smart & Safe sent a letter of resignation to Florida in Marchadvising the campaign on the interpretation of the rules regarding the inclusion of the full text of the proposed initiative in its petitions for signatures, “without specifying any statute, regulation or order” to support its implementation.

“While the Secretary has delegated authority to establish the style and requirements of a citizen initiative form, he does not have the authority to create and implement additional verification criteria not provided for by the Legislature,” the lawsuit states. “No Florida statute expressly or impliedly requires the Full Text Form to be given or shown to a voter before signing a petition.”

Despite legal questions about the revised signature-gathering criteria, the campaign voluntarily complied with the secretary’s directive and began including the full text of the petition. But more than six months after the initial contact, Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews sent an email on Oct. 3 to all of the state’s 63 county supervisors “to rescind any Smart & Safe petition directed at them” before adding the full text of the voter-signed initiative.

“Although the Clerk intends for voters to have the opportunity to read the Full Text Form before signing the petition, there is no statutory or regulatory requirement that a voter verify and count the request to read the full text,” the lawsuit states. “The Secretary’s Directive is imprecise, illegal, ultra vires and void.”

“Due to the Secretary’s Directive, Smart & Safe questions its rights and obligations as a sponsor of the Proposed Amendment,” he added.

The campaign is asking the court to affirm that the secretary lacks legal authority to “impose additional verification criteria” for petition signatures, order the state to “invalidate otherwise valid petitions” under the secretary’s directive, restore the validity of petitions that were allegedly invalidated, and provide any other relief deemed necessary.

Beyond the legal challenge over the signature criteria, there’s another curious wrinkle in how the state has navigated the initiative so far, as the secretary of state apparently missed a statutory deadline to submit the measure to the Florida Supreme Court for legal review after meeting the initial threshold of 220,016 valid signatures.

According to the state Division of Elections, Smart & Safe Florida has collected 662,543 valid signatures as of last count. It needs to verify 880,062 signatures by February 1, 2026 to be voted on. In June, the state confirmed the campaign enough has been collected to initiate a fiscal and judicial review of the initiative.

This is the second vote of the campaign. They successfully got a vote on a version of the 2024 initiative, and a majority voted to pass it, but not enough to meet the state’s 60 percent threshold to pass a constitutional amendment.

An estimated 200,000 applications could be at risk of being invalidated, and with limited time to make up the gap, the campaign could be in jeopardy if the court upholds the state’s mandate to impose new signature criteria.

In the background of this case, in August a federal judge ruled against Smart & Safe Florida—Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to provide “full relief” from provisions of a law he signed to impose other severe restrictions on signature gathering.

Although the law DeSantis signed in May was not directly aimed at the cannabis initiative, there has been concern among supporters that it could jeopardize an already complex and expensive process to gather enough signatures to put it on the ballot. That’s because it would block non-residents and non-citizens from collecting signatures for ballot measures.

In March, two Democratic members of Congress representing Florida asked the federal government to investigate What they described as an “illegal diversion” of millions in state Medicaid funds Through a group with ties to DeSantis. The money was used to fight a popular ballot initiative the governor vehemently opposed that would have legalized adult marijuana.

The lawmakers’ letter alleges that a $10 million donation from a state legislative settlement was misappropriated to the Hope Florida Foundation, which later sent the money to two political nonprofits, and sent $8.5 million to the anti-Amendment 3 campaign.

A grand jury is now taking testimony on that case ahead of possible indictments.

The governor said this in February The latest measure to legalize marijuana is in “big trouble” with the state Supreme CourtHe announced that it will be blocked from going before the voters next year.

“There are a lot of different views on marijuana,” DeSantis said. “It shouldn’t be in our Constitution. If you feel strongly about it, you have a legislative election. Bring back the candidates you think will be able to deliver what you think about it.”

“But when you put these things in the Constitution, and I think, I mean, the way they were written, there’s all kinds of things going on here. I think it’s going to have a lot of trouble getting passed by the Florida Supreme Court,” he said.

the last the initiative It was introduced to the secretary of state just months after initial versions failed in the November 2024 election, despite President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

The revised version of Smart & Safe Florida is expected to be successful in 2026. The campaign — which received tens of millions of dollars from cannabis industry players in the last election cycle, notably from multi-state operator Trulieve — introduced some changes in the new version that address criticisms of opponents of the 2024 push.

For example, it now specifically states that “smoking and vaping marijuana in any public place is prohibited.” Another section states that the legislature should adopt rules governing the “time, place and public manner of consuming marijuana.”

—
It’s Marijuana Time tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelic and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters by pledging at least $25/month, you’ll get access to our interactive maps, charts, and audio calendars so you never miss a development.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracking and become a Patreon supporter to gain access
—

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

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

However, the results echo another recent poll by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, which found a majority in favor of reform among likely voters (53 percent). but not enough to be able to set the 60 percent condition.

Another poll of Republican voters in Florida showed only 40 percent of that demographic said they would vote for it of the legalization proposal.

Also, a GOP senator from Florida recently claimed this the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure misleading him and the general public about key provisions.

Before the election, Trump said he was sorry last September The 3rd Amendment “would have been great” for the state.

Before commenting, Trump met with Truliev CEO Kim Riversas well as a GOP state senator who favors reform.

Meanwhile, there are medical marijuana officials in Florida actively expunging the records of patients and caregivers with drug-related criminal records. The policy is part of the sweeping budget legislation that DeSantis signed into law earlier this year. The aforementioned provisions address the State Department of Health (DOH). void the records of medical marijuana patients and caregivers if convicted of drug offenses, or pleaded guilty or no contest.

Read the Smart & Safe Florida campaign the case Against the state petition criteria: