JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 None of this year\u2019s 22 citizen-led initiatives will appear before voters in November.<\/p>\n
All but one collected fewer than 100,000 petitions.<\/p>\n
Smart & Safe Florida\u2019s recreational marijuana initiative ended with 783,000 validated petitions, which was still nearly 100,000 signatures shy of the number needed for ballot placement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were really the only one that we would say was in the game, so to speak,\u201d said Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Byrd spoke only with Action News Jax about the outcome on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged state officials disqualified a significant amount of Smart & Safe petitions for various violations of state law, like petition design, return deadlines, unqualified petition gathers and even allegations of outright fraud.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you put something in the constitution, it\u2019s almost permanent, which is why we need to actively engage in safeguarding the process and ensure that before we take that step, we\u2019ve done it the right way,\u201d said Byrd.<\/p>\n
While Byrd and the Department of State claim that once the clock expired at 5 PM Sunday, it was game over, Smart & Safe is asserting that the assessment is \u201cpremature\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe final and complete county-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,\u201d a Smart & Safe spokesperson told Action News Jax in a statement.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear whether a lawsuit may be on the horizon.<\/p>\n
If the campaign does sue, Secretary Byrd argued the department\u2019s track record in court throughout this two-year battle speaks for itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve won every single one of those. So, every time some opponent runs to the press and says the state is violating or not doing something right, we go to court, and the facts and evidence are presented,\u201d said Byrd. \u201dWe\u2019ve done everything the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result of alleged fraud during the signature gathering process, Florida\u2019s Attorney General has announced at least 50 criminal investigations and suggested dozens more will be announced in the coming days. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will protect the integrity of Florida\u2019s Constitution by holding every last fraudster accountable,\u201d said Attorney General James Uthmeier in a social media post on Monday.<\/p>\n
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