Attorney General James Uthmeier says he’s finding evidence of further petition fraud on behalf of a citizens’ initiative to legalize recreational pot.
But what is being presented as new evidence in fact comes from Smart & Safe Florida, which is legally required to submit all petitions collected on its behalf without culling out those that may not be legally sufficient.
Uthmeier announced the opening of 46 new criminal investigations, with four criminal subpoenas looking for records from Smart & Safe Florida and its contractors and subcontractors, related to petition collection for the Adult Personal Use of Marijuana amendment.
“Recently obtained documents show that Smart & Safe Florida knew about dozens of fraudsters turning in over 21,000 petitions and failed to inform law enforcement. Florida’s Constitution is not for sale, and we will not allow a mega marijuana corporation to hijack our state’s governing document,” said Uthmeier, referring to Trulieve, which has been the leading contributor to the effort.
Smart & Safe Florida has already had more than 675,000 petitions approved. To get on the ballot, 880,062 valid signatures are required.
The Attorney General’s Office says approximately 50 petition circulators submitted more than 21,600 petitions, with more than 14,500 raising “significant concerns,” including “mismatched signatures” or “indicia of fraud.” The remainder were certified by local Elections Supervisors, many of whom are bristling under the unprecedented pressure brought by the Attorney General’s Office to cure petitions deemed invalid amid this ongoing imbroglio.
Meanwhile, a campaign spokesperson for Smart & Safe Florida says the group is complying with the law and rejects the framing by Uthmeier’s Office.
“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.”
The Office of Statewide Prosecution says nine petition collectors have been arrested or have had warrants issued, with at least six more pending. The aforementioned criminal subpoenas, according to the AG’s Office, “will require Smart & Safe Florida, their contractors, and their subcontractors, to produce documents relating to the alleged fraud to determine whether criminal liability extends beyond individual circulators and into broader organizational conduct.”
For their part, Smart & Safe Florida suggests Uthmeier could bring this investigative rigor to other issues, including one that directly affected its unsuccessful push to get the amendment passed in 2024.
“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.”
In 2024, Uthmeier worked to kill an amendment that would have legalized recreational pot with the help of $10 million donated to the Hope Florida Foundation from a Medicaid settlement.
Uthmeier, who described the eight-figure sum as a “sweetener” in a larger settlement, dismissed as a “smear campaign” allegations that he worked to “misuse funds and things” by steering money to the Hope Florida Foundation through two pass-through committees. The majority of the money ended up in the Keep Florida Clean committee he chaired while he was still Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Chief of Staff.
Uthmeier said the ends justified the means.
“Government officials certainly have a right, maybe even a duty, to protect the state against things like this that will change our laws and potentially harm us,” Uthmeier said on Standpoint, a podcast hosted by Gabe Groisman.
“There’s nothing that stops outside entities from working with other (c)(4)s and nonprofits to fight in an issue campaign,” Uthmeier added. “You can’t use some of those funds for a candidate campaign, but we weren’t out there promoting a candidate. We were fighting against a harmful ideology.”
The fight against that alleged harmful ideology continues, with oral arguments slated for the Florida Supreme Court next month.
Uthmeier will argue the ballot summary is misleading, that the legalization push conflicts with federal law given that cannabis is not legal for non-medical use, and that the initiative violates the single-subject rule and logrolls additional subjects, including calling for an end to the vertical integration framework on which the state’s medical marijuana program relies.
A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski
January 20, 2026 at 11:37 pm
An Office of Statewide Prosecution that was more than a tool of Jimbo and Dee would be investigating and seeking justice for these two smug lawbreakers who acknowledge they diverted a total of $35 million to subvert the pot referendum last election. The ends justify the means, is a Roman Catholic Jesuit concept, and is out of bounds in a secular nation of laws.
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