Florida Ballot Measure Restrictions Mostly Upheld by Judge

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    In Tallahassee, Florida, a federal judge has mostly dismissed the appeals made by grassroots campaigners aiming to halt segments of a recent Florida statute that constrains citizen-led initiatives to place constitutional amendments on the ballot. The initiatives pushing to broaden Medicaid and legalize recreational marijuana aimed to persuade U.S. District Judge Mark Walker to prevent certain parts of the law’s implementation, claiming it infringes on their First Amendment rights. However, in a decision issued on Wednesday, Walker provided a limited injunction to stop state officials from implementing the segment criminalizing ballot petition fraud against a particular campaign staffer.

    As a result, these grassroots campaigns will, for the most part, need to adhere to the new legalities while striving to gather sufficient signatures to make it onto the 2026 ballot. Across states, legislators have been advancing measures to tighten the public’s involvement in placing matters up for voter decision, as explained by the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. Advocacy groups for voting rights argue that these movements undermine the ethos of direct democracy.

    The revised Florida law stipulates that a person could face felony charges if they collect over 25 signed ballot petitions—except their own or those of immediate family—and aren’t officially registered as a petition circulator with the state. Enacted last month by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, the law requires campaigns to return signed petitions within 10 days instead of the former 30-day window to local elections offices. Petition circulators could incur significant penalties if they fail to return them punctually or deliver them to the wrong county.

    Proponents of these legislative adjustments argue they are necessary to clean up a process reportedly marred by fraudulence. The changes emerged following substantial support among Florida voters for ballot initiatives regarding abortion rights and marijuana legalization, however, these did not achieve the requisite 60% approval to be enacted.

    The campaigns Florida Decides Healthcare and Smart & Safe Florida contest that the new law renders their petition-gathering endeavors prohibitively costly and nearly infeasible. Judge Walker, in his ruling, observed that these new stipulations have “an immediate reduction in protected speech” by putting constraints on the campaigns’ petition-collecting capacities and dampening volunteers’ involvement. Nonetheless, Walker noted that the campaigners hadn’t sufficiently demonstrated a grave infringement on their free speech rights.

    “Instead, the record shows that these provisions simply make the process of getting their proposed initiatives on the ballot more expensive and less efficient for Plaintiffs,” he articulated. However, Walker acknowledged ongoing free speech concerns that still require attention as the lawsuit progresses: “this Court is not suggesting that Plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on their First Amendment challenges to the new deadline and associated fines.”

    Mitch Emerson, Florida Decides Healthcare’s executive director, expressed confidence regarding the legal battle ahead, highlighting that the Court’s decision does not represent the case’s conclusion. A request for comments directed to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office received no immediate answer.