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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — <\/span>A proposed amendment to Florida’s constitution that would allow recreational marijuana use for adults is one of 22 citizen initiatives that failed to qualify for the 2026 ballot, state officials said.<\/p>\n The Florida Department of State announced Sunday that none of the active proposed constitutional amendments by initiative petition met the legal requirements for placement on the November general election ballot.<\/p>\n The deadline for signatures to qualify for the midterm election was Sunday. Smart & Safe Florida<\/a>, the group behind the marijuana amendment, said they believed they would have the 880,062 signatures needed after all petitions are processed, but state records<\/a> show the amendment was about 100,000 signatures short on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe the declaration by the Secretary of State is premature, as the final and complete county-by-county totals for validated petitions are not yet reported,\u201d a Smart & Safe statement said. \u201cWe submitted over 1.4 million signatures and believe when they are all counted, we will have more than enough to make the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n The exclusion of all amendments follows a yearslong clash between progressive organizers seeking to amend the state\u2019s constitution and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. In 2024, the governor used state money and his political influence<\/a> to successfully campaign<\/a> against efforts to legalize adult personal use of marijuana<\/a> and expand abortion rights<\/a>. <\/p>\n For years, Florida voters have turned to the citizens\u2019 ballot initiative process to bypass the Republican-dominated Legislature and advance progressive policies, such as raising the minimum wage and restoring the voting rights of people with felony convictions.<\/p>\n Last May, DeSantis signed a law creating new hurdles<\/a> for citizen-driven ballot initiatives, changes critics say would make it prohibitively expensive and effectively impossible for grassroots campaigners to get issues on the ballot. Since the passage of the law, a campaign to expand Medicaid in the state announced it\u2019s delaying its push<\/a> to get the question on the ballot until 2028.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n