Florida Appeals Court Backs Signature Invalidations as Marijuana Petition Deadline Nears

The elections website now lists 760,002 verified signatures, leaving the campaign short of the 880,062 required by Feb. 1.

Overview

An appeals panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal upheld Secretary of State Cord Byrd’s directives to invalidate petitions tied to inactive voters and non-Florida circulators.
The ruling reverses a lower court on inactive voters and affirms it on non-resident circulators, allowing both categories of invalidations totaling about 70,000 signatures.
Smart & Safe Florida has sought further review, filing an emergency motion for the full appeals court to consider the case.
The Division of Elections updated the verified signature count from 714,888 on Sunday to 760,002 on Monday as the campaign challenges delayed weekly reporting, which officials attribute to fraud scrutiny.
State prosecutors and FDLE agents moved to examine petitions in Broward County after a letter cited suspected forgeries involving 27 circulators under investigation, noting about 535 signatures were invalidated and 302 validated there.