FBI serving search warrants at Los Angeles school district headquarters, home of former Miami-Dade Public Schools superintendent
The FBI is serving search warrants at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s headquarters and the home of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
BREAKING NEWS
FBI serving search warrants at Los Angeles school district headquarters, home of former Miami-Dade Public Schools superintendent
8 minutes ago
Marlins’ Pete Fairbanks fans 2 in spring debut
29 minutes ago
‘What the hell?’: Angry speaker confronts Pembroke Park mayor about residency controversy
53 minutes ago
Miami Gardens ‘violent drug dealer’ who shot at Uber driver faces charges, feds say
54 minutes ago
Dolphins Cancer Challenge to impact traffic in Miami-Dade, Broward counties
11 minutes ago
Arrest records indicate how detectives identified, located suspects in Broward homicide
, Reporter
, Digital Executive Producer
Published:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The marijuana referendum, which the majority of Florida voters voted in favor of in 2024, will not be on the ballot in 2026, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier posted on X Monday.
Leer en español
“Smart & Safe Florida failed to get its amendment on the 2026 ballot despite numerous cases of fraudulent petitions,” the attorney general wrote in his post. “The work of our Office of Statewide Prosecution will continue. We will protect the integrity of Florida’s Constitution by holding every last fraudster accountable.”
A Smart & Safe Florida representative, however, shot back, telling Local 10 in a statement that the state’s announcement on the referendum is “premature.”
“We believe the declaration by the Secretary of State is premature, as the final and complete count by county totals for validated petitions are not yet reported. We submitted over 1.4 million signatures and believe when they are all counted, we will have more than enough to make ballot,” their statement read.
Last week, state election crimes investigators were sent to Broward County’s elections headquarters in Fort Lauderdale to investigate marijuana-referendum petitions processed by the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office.
Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott told Local 10 in a statement that 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 last week:
“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.”
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.
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."
Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.