Florida: Judge Sides With State in Tossing 200,000 Marijuana Petitions, But Smart & Safe Florida Plans to Appeal

Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled Friday that state election officials acted within the law when they instructed county supervisors to invalidate petitions submitted by Smart & Safe Florida. The order wipes out roughly one-third of the roughly 675,000 valid signatures the campaign had collected, dealing a significant setback as it races toward a February 1 deadline to secure 880,062 valid signatures. The dispute stems from an October 3 directive from Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews, who told supervisors to reject petitions that did not include the full text of the proposed amendment. The state argued those signatures were “not obtained legally.” Smart & Safe Florida says nothing in statute requires voters to be shown the full amendment text before signing.

The state also alleged the group altered the approved petition form without authorization. While the front of the petition matched the approved version, the back, originally blank, included a link to the campaign’s website where voters could read the full proposal. State law says signatures collected on an unapproved form “cannot be counted,” attorney Ben Gibson argued in court.

Smart & Safe’s attorney Glenn Burhans countered that the layout was identical and that a website link on the back did not constitute a meaningful change. Cooper acknowledged the committee acted “in good faith” but ultimately agreed with the state that the added text on the back represented a material change requiring state approval.

The campaign said afterward it plans to appeal.

“We fervently but respectfully disagree with this ruling and fully intend to appeal it as voters deserve and overwhelmingly want to have their voices heard on this important matter,” the committee said in a message.

The petition fight comes as tensions escalate between the DeSantis administration and the committee. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Cord Byrd’s office issued a cease-and-desist letter warning the group about its petition format. A new state law that took effect in July now requires petition forms to include the full text of the proposed amendment, but the invalidated petitions predated that mandate.

Byrd’s office this week also took initial steps to send the measure to the Florida Supreme Court for review — a mandatory step in the ballot process, after Smart & Safe Florida sued to force the state to move the proposal forward.

The committee says it isn’t backing down as it works to put  its initiative before voters in November 2026.