Florida AG says marijuana initiative failed, but advocates fight back – Tallahassee Democrat
Florida’s attorney general doubled down on the state’s announcement that a marijuana measure failed to make the ballot, although the petition group has said it’s too soon to tell.
Under Florida law, Smart and Safe Florida needed to have 880,062 signatures by Feb. 1, but the Florida Division of Elections website only listed 783,592 verified signatures.
“The statute says everything’s gotta be turned in by Feb. 1. We’re past Feb. 1. I don’t see enough signatures at this point,” Attorney General James Uthmeier said in at an unrelated Capitol press conference Feb. 4.
Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd announced Feb. 1 that all 22 citizen-led proposed amendments to the state’s constitution failed to meet Florida law’s signature requirements. In response, the adult-use recreational marijuana group behind that amendment said the declaration was “premature.”
“We submitted over 1.4 million signatures and believe, when they are all counted, we will have more than enough to make the ballot,” a spokesperson said.
In December, Uthmeier requested the Florida Supreme Court to review the ballot text of the proposed marijuana amendment, a procedure mandated by state law.
But on Feb. 2, Uthmeier withdrew that request, since the initiative failed to meet the signature requirement deadline. The court had been scheduled to hear the case on Feb. 5 at 9 a.m.
Smart and Safe Florida responded Feb. 3, saying the court should still continue forward for two reasons. The first being that the constitution says the court “shall” review the ballot language, and the second, that the result of pending lawsuits could result in the ballot measure meeting the signature requirements.
Here’s how: One lawsuit against Byrd and the Leon County supervisor of elections is focused on 70,000 petitions that were deemed invalid, whether because the signatures came from “inactive” voters or because the petitions were collected by nonresidents or noncitizens.
A new state law effective last July said nonresidents and noncitizens couldn’t gather signatures, but a federal judge said the same month that the state couldn’t enforce it because it imposed a burden on political speech.
Soon after, however, a divided appeals court upheld Florida’s law, disagreeing that it violated free speech.
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat.