DeSantis administration launches probe into marijuana referendum petitions in Broward County – WPLG Local 10
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — State election crimes investigators were sent to Broward County’s elections headquarters in Fort Lauderdale this week to investigate marijuana-referendum petitions processed by the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office.
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According to the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office, investigators sent by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration were at elections headquarters Monday and Tuesday, and were expected there again Wednesday.
The elections office released a statement to Local 10 News, saying, “There is no indication that the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office, nor Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott, is under investigation.”
Scott said the investigation targets “circulators who were terminated for petition fraud by Smart & Safe Florida.”
Statewide prosecutors have asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to open 46 fraud investigations pertaining to petition organizers.
“A letter dated January 24, 2026, from the Secretary of State referenced issues related to petitions collected for the marijuana initiative. That correspondence was subsequently clarified by a letter sent to our office the following day from the Office of the Statewide Prosecutor, which makes clear that the targets of the investigation are circulators who were terminated for petition fraud by Smart & Safe Florida.
“My team and I are doing our part by providing information requested by the authorities. Our office remains committed to serving the people of Broward County with the transparency they expect from us.”
The proposed marijuana referendum would amend the state’s Constitution to legalize the use of recreational marijuana by those 21 and older – something DeSantis is opposed to.
Smart & Safe Florida released the following statement to Local 10 News Wednesday.
“It is clear that the Secretary is using every means necessary to stifle the voices of over a million Florida voters who have lawfully and legally signed petitions.
“From the month’s-long delay in sending the ballot language to the court to the after-the-fact nullifying of valid petitions, it seems there is nothing that will stop the administration from preventing these voters from having their say.
“Consistent with Florida law, each and every time we found any sort of discrepancy from state-certified petition gatherers, we reported our suspicions to the Secretary of State.
“Even further, we segregate any suspicious petitions before submitting them to county supervisors of elections.
“In short, it appears the Attorney General is taking issue with the fact that we explicitly follow the law.
“We will, of course, continue to work with the state to ensure anyone who appears to be committing fraud is immediately terminated and promptly reported to the state and we hope the Attorney General applies the same vigor to the $10 million HOPE Florida scandal also being investigated by the State Attorney.”
Related: Local 10 News Hope Florida coverage
Glen Burhans is the general counsel for Smart & Safe Florida and he spoke to Local 10 News on Sunday.
“When we discover fraud, we report it to the state,” he said. “We tell circulators in their training, ‘If you commit fraud, you will be fired, you will be reported to the state and if appropriate, you will be prosecuted, period, end of story.’ And the state knows that because we have given them our training materials. Anyone who has committed fraud should be prosecuted.”
All of this is happening amid of flurry of lawsuits.
“This is actually the second time in the past few months we have had to sue the secretary of state to compel him to do his job, his administrative tasks as statute,” said Burhans. “This most recent case filed last week compelling the secretary to report the signature verifications to the website on a weekly basis per statute.”
The committee is up against a deadline of Feb. 1 to get the required number of signatures. They are hoping voters in Florida can once again have the opportunity to weigh-in.
Read Statewide Prosecutor Bradley McVay’s letter to Scott below:
Office of the AG letter to Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott
A new letter was sent on Thursday regarding the investigation into the validity of the petition signatures.
Read Statewide Prosecutor McVay’s new letter below:
SS PPC Statewide SOE Letter
Scott gave a statement in response to the new letter.
“The most recent letter from the Office of the Statewide Prosecutor reaffirms that my Office did a tremendous job under very difficult circumstances while adapting to numerous changes in state law. Our team executed the petition verification process with diligence and professionalism. I’m extremely proud of my team’s work. Our Office continues to serve Broward County with the Excellence and Transparency our community expects.”
Local 10 reached out to Smart & Safe Florida for comments on what was stated in the new letter.
“Smart & Safe has steadfastly reported, as required, the names of an and all circulators who we suspected of committing fraud. We have zero tolerance for that behavior and immediately terminated anyone suspected of forging or faking signatures.”
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Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.
Christina returned to Local 10 in 2019 as a reporter after covering Hurricane Dorian for the station. She is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist and previously earned an Emmy Award while at WPLG for her investigative consumer protection segment "Call Christina."