Campaign groups urge judge to further limit new restrictions on getting measures on Florida's ballot

TALLAHASSEE — Attorneys for grassroots campaigners are again asking a federal judge to halt enforcement of parts of a new Florida law that restricts the state’s process to get citizens’ initiatives on the ballot.

Tuesday's arguments before U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee were the latest attempt by attorneys for voter advocacy groups and campaigns for Medicaid expansion and recreational marijuana to carve away at a law that they argue unconstitutionally hamstrings citizens' abilities to amend Florida's constitution.

So far, Walker has issued mixed rulings in the case, freezing some portions of the law but allowing other parts to go into effect, even as the campaigns try to gather enough signatures from voters to qualify for the 2026 ballot.

Walker had already blocked some provisions of the statute that bar noncitizens and residents of other states from gathering petitions to get a measure on the ballot. On Tuesday, attorneys came back to ask Walker to expand that ruling, barring state attorneys from enforcing that aspect of the law against their clients. Walker had previously blocked enforcement by the attorney general, secretary of state and local elections supervisors against the plaintiffs.




https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2025-08-13/campaign-groups-urge-judge-to-further-limit-new-restrictions-on-getting-measures-on-floridas-ballot