Marijuana Moment: Florida Judge Says Officials Can Toss 200,000 Marijuana Legalization Petitions, Putting 2026 Ballot Initiative At Risk

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A Florida judge has sided with Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) administration and upheld a move to invalidate about 200,000 signatures in support of a marijuana legalization initiative that an industry-funded campaign is seeking to place on the state’s 2026 ballot.

Smart & Safe Florida filed the lawsuit against Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit last month, contesting the secretary’s claims that signature verification criteria render invalid any petitions that didn’t include the full text of the initiative.

While the ruling from Circuit Court Judge John Cooper on Friday didn’t focus on that particular issue, it did agree with the state that a formatting revision to the campaign’s petition—putting a link to its site with the full text of the proposed initiative on the back of the form—was an unapproved change.

The invalidation of about 200,000 petitions that were filled out on that revised form would cut nearly a third of signatures from the campaign’s current total. Smart & Safe Florida has already vowed to appeal the decision.

“We fervently but respectfully disagree with this ruling and fully intend to appeal it as voters deserve and overwhelmingly want to have their voices heard on this important matter,” the campaign said in a statement to Marijuana Moment on Monday.

The initially contested policy change on having the full text of an initiative included in the petition was “not contemplated by the statute” on ballot requirements, the campaign said in their original lawsuit.

Despite that, however, the secretary last month “directed all County Supervisors of Elections to invalidate upwards of 200,000 of Plaintiff’s petitions that the Supervisors had previously verified pursuant to the express statutory criteria.”

Ben Gibson, representing the secretary of state, said in a hearing on Friday that the policy change for petitions was “not something” he “came up with out of the whole cloth,” News Service of Florida reported. Statute stipulates that “signatures obtained on an unapproved form cannot be counted.”

“That is not an interpretation,” he said. “That is the black letter law of the statute.”

Cooper, the circuit court judge, said he “wavered back and forth” on the issue at hand, and he believed the state’s attorney “pointed out to my satisfaction the statutory provision that says if one is not using the forms prescribed by the secretary of state, then they are not valid.”

The original lawsuit noted that the secretary’s decision to direct the invalidation of petitions came “less than four months before the February 1, 2026, deadline for ballot certification.”

The secretary’s office initially sent a cease-and-desist letter to Smart & Safe Florida in March, advising the campaign about its interpretation of the rules around including the full text of the proposed initiative on its signature petitions, “without pointing to any statute, regulation, or order” to support its enforceability.

“While the Secretary has the delegated authority to prescribe the style and requirements of a citizen initiative form, he has no authority to create and impose additional verification criteria not contemplated by the Legislature,” the suit says. “No Florida statute…expressly or impliedly requires that the Full Text Form be provided or displayed to a voter prior to signing a petition.”

Regardless of legal questions surrounding the revised signature gathering criteria, the campaign did voluntarily comply with the secretary’s directive and began including the full text on petitions. But more than six months after the initial contact, Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews on October 3 emailed all of the state’s 63 county supervisors “directing them to invalidate any Smart & Safe petition” that voters signed before the full initiative text was added.

“While the Secretary may wish that voters have the opportunity to read the Full Text Form before signing the petition, there is no statutory or regulatory requirement that a voter read the full text to have their petition verified and counted,” the lawsuit says. “The Secretary’s Directive is inaccurate, unlawful, ultra vires, and void.”

Meanwhile last month, the campaign filed a separate lawsuit with the state Supreme Court, alleging that officials are violating election laws by stalling a required review process for the measure without justification. The state has since agreed to move forward with the processing.

This is the campaign’s second run at the ballot. They successfully secured ballot placement for a 2024 version of the initiative—and a majority did vote to pass it, but not enough to meet the state’s steep 60 percent threshold to approve a constitutional amendment.

A federal judge in August separately delivered a win to Smart & Safe Florida—granting “complete relief” from provisions of a law the governor signed to impose other serious restrictions on signature gathering.

While the law the governor signed in May wasn’t directly targeted at the cannabis initiative, there’s been concern among supporters that it could jeopardize an already complex and costly process to collect enough signatures to make the ballot. That’s because it would block non-residents and non-citizens from collecting signatures for ballot measures.

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 DeSantis. 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.

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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 Brian Shamblen.

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