NORML of Florida is suing Broward County Supervisor of Elections Dr. Brenda Snipes after it was revealed that mail-in ballots had been sent to voters omitting the medical marijuana amendment ballot question, the chapter announced in a Facebook post.
The lawsuit is asking a judge to require new ballots, along with an information sheet explaining why they are being provided, be printed and distributed. The group is also seeking an explanation as to how Amendment 2 was excluded from the ballots and court costs.
The suit is filed on behalf of Florida NORML and its Chair Karen Goldstein by NORML’s National Vice-Chair Norm Kent, a Fort Lauderdale resident and attorney, and his law partner Russell Cormican.
The initiative needs a supermajority, 60 percent, to become law – which a similar amendment failed to reach in 2014 by just 2 percent – and the suit says that “every voter and vote, therefore, is critical” to reaching that threshold. The plaintiffs claim that the “egregious error” is “grossly inexcusable” and should not be permitted to stand.
“The Respondent’s failure to include Amendment 2 on certain vote-by-mail ballot carries with it imminent danger that a significant portion of the voting public in [the county] will be deprived of the opportunity to fully participate in the [general election] and violates the constitutional rights of all [Broward County] citizens,” the suit says.
Florida is one of four states voting on a medical cannabis measure in the general election. The Amendment, which has overwhelming support in polls, would greatly expand medical cannabis access in the state.