Overview
- Attorney General James Uthmeier announced 46 new criminal investigations into alleged signature fraud tied to the recreational marijuana petition drive and issued four criminal subpoenas.
- Prosecutors say about 50 circulators submitted more than 21,600 petitions, with over 14,500 flagged and invalidated and roughly 7,100 certified by county supervisors.
- Nine petition circulators have been arrested or had warrants issued, and officials say additional arrests are expected as investigations near completion.
- Subpoenas seek records from Smart & Safe Florida and its contractors after the AG alleged the campaign knew of dozens of fraudsters and did not alert law enforcement; the campaign says it reported discrepancies to the state and followed required procedures.
- Separately, the sponsor sued to force weekly public signature tallies as the state website remains at 675,307 valid signatures; 880,062 are required by Feb. 1, and the Florida Supreme Court will hear ballot-language arguments on Feb. 5.