TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – Florida voters will not decide on recreational marijuana this November after every initiative petition failed to meet ballot requirements, the Secretary of State\u2019s office announced.<\/p>\n
The failed attempts come as new petition rules took effect, creating additional hurdles for ballot initiatives. More than 20 initiative petitions missed requirements this year.<\/p>\n
Florida passed a law last year making sweeping changes to the petition process. The changes include a $1 million bond before collecting signatures, requiring paid petition collectors to be Florida residents who pass background checks and shortening the timeline for turning in petitions to election supervisors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of things that have to be done now to yield a person\u2019s signature as valid \u2014 the hurdles have just kept increasing since last year,\u201d said Susan MacManus, a political analyst.<\/p>\n
Smart and Safe Florida<\/a>, the group pushing recreational marijuana legalization, turned in about 783,592 valid signatures according to the Secretary of State<\/a>, below the 880,062 required.<\/p>\n The group disputes the count. In a statement, Smart and Safe Florida called the Secretary of State\u2019s announcement premature.<\/p>\n \u201cWe submitted over 1.4 million signatures and believe when they are all counted, we will have more than enough to make the ballot,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n More Florida politics:<\/p>\n House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell predicted this outcome when she voted against the law nearly a year ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people of Florida deserve to have their say, and now they won\u2019t. It\u2019s wrong, plain and simple. It\u2019s anti-democratic, and unfortunately, exactly what we predicted when we were debating this bill last year,\u201d Driskell said.<\/p>\n Florida voters supported marijuana legalization two years ago with more than 50% of the vote, but it fell short of the 60% threshold needed to pass.<\/p>\n The new restrictions have forced other ballot initiatives to restart their efforts. Florida Decides Healthcare<\/a>, which pushed to expand Medicaid, restarted its effort this week.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving to adapt to this constantly changing environment, it was essentially death by a thousand cuts,\u201d said Mitch Emerson, Florida Decides Healthcare executive director.<\/p>\n Attorney General James Uthmeier, who led the campaign against marijuana legalization in 2024, is investigating petition fraud in Smart and Safe Florida\u2019s collection effort under the new law. Last month, a woman was arrested and accused of forging signatures.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this highlights the danger of these petition-gathering processes, things going on the ballot where you have fraud in the election system,\u201d Uthmeier said.<\/p>\n