Tallahassee, Florida– A proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution that would allow adult recreational use of marijuana is one of 22 citizen initiatives that failed to qualify for the 2026 ballot, state officials said.
The Florida Department of State announced Sunday that none of the constitutional amendments proposed through the initiative petition met the legal requirements to be placed on the November general election ballot.
The deadline to submit signatures to qualify for the midterm elections was Sunday. tasty & Safe FloridaThe group behind the marijuana amendment said it believes it will get the 880,062 signatures needed after all the petitions are processed, but State records About 100,000 signatures were short on Monday, the edit showed.
“We believe the Secretary of State’s announcement is premature, as final and complete county-by-county totals for validated petitions have not yet been reported,” & Safe statement said. “We have submitted over 1.4 million signatures and believe that when they are all counted, we will have enough to make the ballot.”
The exclusion of all amendments follows a years-long struggle between progressive organizers seeking to amend the state constitution and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. In 2024, the governor used State funds and political influence to The campaign was successful Against attempts to legalize it Adult personal use of marijuana and Expanding abortion rights.
For years, Florida voters have turned to the citizens’ ballot initiative process to bypass the Republican-dominated Legislature and advance progressive policies, such as raising the minimum wage and restoring voting rights to people convicted of felonies.
Last May, DeSantis signed legislation creating the law New obstacles For citizen-led ballot initiatives, critics say the changes would make it expensive and virtually impossible for grassroots activists to put issues on the ballot. Since the law passed, she has announced a campaign to expand Medicaid in the state Delay payment To put the question on the ballot until 2028.