Florida state officials are again meddling with free and fair elections in a zealous quest to stop adult-use marijuana legalization.
That’s according to a lawsuit filed last week by Smart & Safe Florida, a marijuana multistate operator-backed legalization campaign, that accuses officials in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration of unlawfully thwarting efforts to put cannabis on the 2026 ballot.
Bankrolled to the tune of $26 million and counting by Tallahassee-based Trulieve Cannabis, Smart & Safe Florida must collect by Feb. 1 roughly 880,000 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify a constitutional amendment that would legalize adult-use cannabis for adults and 21 and older.
But as Politico first reported, the state Division of Elections earlier this month instructed county elections officials to invalidate up to 200,000 signatures already submitted over a technicality.
As the state Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS) first alleged in March, Smart & Safe Florida campaigners did not provide the full text of the amendment to voters before obtaining their signatures.
In its suit, Smart & Safe Florida called the DeSantis’ administration’s actions an extraordinary and “unlawful” attempt to deny “the Florida voters who signed the petitions to have their voices heard,” according to Politico.
Trulieve spent roughly $150 million on an adult-use legalization effort that failed to win the necessary 60% support in 2024 despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
But that was after DeSantis officials challenged the campaign in court – and, according to two state lawmakers, used state resources to sway voters to oppose the effort.
DeSantis, a failed Republican presidential candidate, made campaigning against legalization a pet issue.
Separately, according to Politico, a state grand jury is investigating DeSantis officials and other Florida Republicans and whether $10 million in state funds made its way to an anti-legalization campaign.
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