A Florida campaign that’s working to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the 2026 ballot is suing the state for allegedly taking “unlawful” steps to force the invalidation of about 200,000 voter signatures it has submitted.
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 week, contesting the secretary’s claims that signature verification criteria render invalid any petitions that didn’t include the full text of the initiative.
Such a rule was “not contemplated by the statute” on ballot requirements, the campaign said. Despite that, however, the secretary earlier this 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.”
A campaign spokesperson told Marijuana Moment on Monday that the lawsuit is meant to “require the Secretary of State to follow Florida law and to prevent the State from denying the Florida voters who signed the petitions to have their voices heard.”
“We are asking the court to enforce Florida law, it’s really that simple,” they said. “The State is wrongly attempting to change the rules after-the-fact and deny these registered voters their voice in the process.”
The lawsuit, first reported by Politico, notes that the secretary’s decision to direct the invalidation of petitions comes “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.”
“Because of the Secretary’s Directive, Smart & Safe is in doubt as to its rights and responsibilities as the sponsor of the Proposed Amendment,” it added.
The campaign is asking the court to affirm the lack of legal authority for the secretary to “impose additional verification criteria” for petition signatures, enjoin the state from “invalidating otherwise valid petitions” under the secretary’s directive, restore the validation of petitions that were allegedly unlawfully invalidated and provide any other relief deemed necessary.
Beyond the legal challenge to the signature criteria, there’s another curious wrinkle in how the state has so far navigated this initiative, with the secretary of state apparently missing a statutorily imposed deadline to submit the measure to the Florida Supreme Court for a legal review after it met an initial threshold of 220,016 valid signatures.
According to the state Division of Elections, Smart & Safe Florida has collected valid 662,543 signatures at last count. It needs 880,062 verified signatures by February 1, 2026 to make the ballot. In June, the state affirmed that the campaign collected enough for the initiative to trigger the fiscal and judicial review.
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.
With approximately 200,000 petitions now potentially at risk of invalidation, and limited time to make up the difference, the campaign may be at jeopardy if the court upholds the state’s authority to impose new signature criteria.
In the background of this lawsuit, a federal judge in August delivered a win to Smart & Safe Florida—granting “complete relief” from provisions of a law Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed to impose other serious restrictions on signature gathering.
While the law DeSantis 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.
A grand jury is now reportedly taking testimony on that matter ahead of potential prosecutions.
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.”
—
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.
—
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.
However, the results conflict with another recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, that found majority support for the reform among likely voter (53 percent) but not enough to be enacted under the 60 percent requirement.
Another poll of Florida Republican voters showed just 40 percent of that demographic said they’d vote in favor of the legalization proposal.
Separately, a Florida GOP senator claimed recently that the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure by misleading him and the general public about key provisions.
Ahead of the election, Trump said last September that he felt Amendment 3 was “going to be very good” for the state.
Before making the comments, Trump met with the CEO of Trulieve, Kim Rivers, as well as with a GOP state senator who is in favor of the reform.
Meanwhile, 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.
Read the Smart & Safe Florida campaign’s lawsuit against the state over petition criteria below:
Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon pledge.
