Florida Judge Deals Blow to Getting Recreational Marijuana on Ballot

OG article by Dara Kam

November 24, 2025

A Leon County circuit judge ruled in favor of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, invalidating over 200,000 petition signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida. Circuit Judge John Cooper sided with state officials who ordered supervisors of elections to discard the signatures, as the petitions did not include the full text of the amendment and had an unapproved format change. The disputed forms had a blank back page in the approved version, but the mailed petitions included a link to the full text on Smart & Safe Florida’s website. The state argued this alteration violated Florida law requiring signatures on approved forms only. Smart & Safe Florida, the political committee backing the initiative, contended no layout change occurred and plans to appeal, emphasizing voter desire for a voice on the issue. The committee faces a Feb. 1, 2026, deadline to submit over 880,000 verified signatures for the 2026 ballot, with a functional deadline about a month earlier due to processing needs. As of Friday, they had 675,307 valid signatures, including the disputed ones, though numbers were dropping. A new July law mandates full text inclusion and imposed a 90-day processing halt ending Sept. 30. Byrd’s office issued a March cease-and-desist and is pursuing Florida Supreme Court review. DeSantis led efforts to defeat a similar 2024 amendment, and clashes with Secretary of State Cord Byrd continue. During the hearing, attorneys referenced statutory uniformity, the 2000 election recount, and movie quotes like from Marx Brothers and “My Cousin Vinny” to argue layout differences. Cooper noted good faith efforts but found the back-page addition a material, unapproved change. The ruling intensifies the push-pull over ballot access.