TALHASSEE — “Fear and Uncertainty” about the new law targeting the state’s voting initiative process has resulted in a significant decline in people working to collect signatures for the 2026 voting measure, the group challenging the group told a federal judge on Thursday.
One of the most controversial parts of the law passed by Republican-controlled Congress on May 2nd and soon signed by Gov. Ron Desantis, will shorten a petition from 30 to 10 days and file a petition signed to the election supervisor.
Additionally, the law includes large fines for late filed petitions, making the collection of petitions a collection of petitions to retain the petitioner’s personal information or make changes to completed petitions. Groups accused of “substantial irregularities” in the petition process could face assault charges.
Florida has decided on Healthcare, a committee that sponsors a constitutional amendment that aims to expand coverage for Medicaid, and filed a lawsuit this month to challenge some of the law. Smart & Safe Florida, the committee behind the proposed constitutional amendment to allow recreational marijuana, is also the plaintiff in the case. A similar marijuana proposal was not passed narrowly in November, and the committee is about to return to vote in 2026.
Thursday’s group asked U.S. District Judge Judge Mark Walker to order a preliminary injunction to block some of the law, including a 10-day deadline. Group lawyers argue that the provisions are unconstitutional and that political speeches are “cold,” “cold,” and “cold.”
The shortened deadline for filing the petition filed a petition combined with the risk of delayed fines, creating an “insurmountable barrier” to place initiatives in the 2026 vote.
The 10-day turnaround “has zero-related relationships with fighting fraud and preserving vote integrity,” claimed Glenburghans, a lawyer at Smart & Safe Florida.
The purpose of the quick turnaround is “to crush a pure and simple initiative process, which is stamped on the speech,” Bullhans said.
Smart & Safe Florida has submitted more than 217,000 valid petition signatures to state election officials. The group must submit approximately 880,000 signatures by February 1st, and vote in November 2026.
But Bullhands pointed to documents filed Wednesday, saying that the smart and secure Florida petition collection and workforce have been shrinking since some of the law, including a 10-day deadline, began to come into effect this month.
According to a declaration by Meghan Cox, founder and CEO of GroundGame Political Solutions LLC, the group collects around 78,000 petitions a week, and is expected to exceed the 880,000 threshold by the end of June. Cox’s Company offers voting initiative services to Smart & Safe Florida.
Cox said the number of petitions fell from 12,000 to 15,000 a week.
Furthermore, the number of workers reduced by 1,100 since the law came into effect has fallen by 85%, and “we don’t know if we’ll collect enough to get into the ballot by the end of the year,” Cox’s declaration states.
Walker on Thursday asked Burhands if the reduced workers or completed petition could be attributed to a decrease in support for the Marifa Naini initiative.
Bullhands said the proposal has “wide support” among voters.
He said last year’s marijuana measure, which appeared as Amendment 3 in the November poll, received more than 5.9 million votes, surpassing DeSantis’ votes when he was re-elected in 2022.
After leading the Crusades to help defeat marijuana measures and proposals to put abortion rights in the state constitution, DeSantis called on Congress to change the voting initiative process.
Republican leaders and groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce have long argued that policy decisions should be made by Congress, rather than amending the constitution.
Burhans argued that the new law was designed to “Success Amendment 3” last year with “Undercut The Success Remendment 3.”
Mohammad Jazil, the state’s representative lawyer, told Walker that the legislature has the authority to establish regulations on the voting initiative process.
The judge forced him on some of the laws that restricted the group from maintaining “personal information.” This is something that the plaintiff maintains, and is ambiguous and overloaded.
The council is “a sausage maker,” Jazil said.
But Walker said in several previous cases, the sausages have been found to be “just awkward.”
“Sometimes, the sausages they produce on the streets (at the Capitol) are troublesome and should not be served that,” Walker observed.
“The question is sausage edible,” replied Jazil.
Jazil said the 10-day timeline would give supervisors more time to verify petitions. A shorter time slot could prevent log jams for local election officials, Jazil said.
However, Burhan mentioned another part of the law that freezes the verification of supervisors for elections from July 1 to September 30 to supervisors.
“The sausages are not only bad, they are intense and full of maggots,” Bullhans said.
Other groups that took part in the lawsuit include the Florida Federation of Women Voters. On Wednesday, Walker gave a request from supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment aimed at protecting clean water for participation in the lawsuit.
Walker did not immediately control the interim injunction, but Florida executive director Mitch Emerson said he hopes to decide healthcare and grant the judge’s request to block the law.
By Dara Cam, Florida news service
