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.”“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.”>https://www.marijuanamoment.net/florida-marijuana-legalization-campaign-sues-state-over-alleged-unlawful-attempt-to-invalidate-200000-signatures-for-2026-ballot-initiative/
