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It was after the defeat of the 2024 amendment that Smart & Safe Florida quickly geared up to try again in 2026. The revamped measure included changes meant to address criticisms from DeSantis and other Republicans regarding smoking in public and marketing toward children. The governor said last February that he opposed the initiative.
This time around, the legalization campaign started by mailing out a petition form along with a return envelope and paid postage. On the reverse side of the petition was a notice directing voters to a website with the full text of the amendment.
In late March, Byrd sent a letter to amendment organizers stating that they failed to provide the full amendment to voters and contending the forms were not valid because the website address was on the back. After his letter, the group did include a copy of the full amendment and provided Byrd with the names of all those who returned forms to Smart & Safe Florida by mail.
On Oct. 3, Maria Matthews, the director of the state elections division, emailed all 67 local election supervisors and directed them to invalidate up to 200,000 petitions. In its lawsuit filed in circuit court against Byrd and Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley, Smart & Safe Florida contends there is no provision in state law requiring the full text of an amendment be provided before someone signs a petition.
While this legal battle gets underway, there are also questions as to whether the state is trying to throw up other roadblocks.
Under Florida law, the state’s top election official is supposed to “immediately” submit an initiative to the attorney general once the Division of Elections confirms enough signatures have been gathered to trigger a review by the state Supreme Court.
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Sean Hocking
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