The Broward County Supervisor of Elections has found itself in hot water with medical marijuana supporters who say a constitutional amendment to legalize medical pot was left out of some absentee voters’ ballots.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, NORML of Florida said it would seek an emergency hearing after reports emerged saying some recipients of vote-by-mail ballots had ballots which skipped from Amendment 1 to Amendment 3, omitting the constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana.
On Thursday, the Sun Sentinel reported former Oakland Park Commissioner Anne Sallee noticed Amendment 2 was missing on her ballot. Sallee provided a scanned copy of the ballot to the Sentinel, but Broward Elections Supervisor Dr. Brenda Snipes said the office had found no evidence of any incorrect ballots being sent out to voters.
"We have a check-and-balance system. We can go back and see what we did send to the printer," Snipes told the Sentinel. "When you're dealing with this much paper and this many people, we may have made a mistake. But I haven't heard a lot of people saying, 'I don't have it, either.' We've already sent [Sallee] another ballot."
Pro medical marijuana groups are furious over the apparent snafu and are incredibly worried what effect a faulty ballot could have on Amendment 2 if it turns out Sallee’s ballot wasn’t the only one with a misprint.
Attorneys for NORML Florida said they had heard of other voters from Broward County whose ballots were also missing the pot question.
Broward County is one of the largest counties in the state, which means it’s an important pick up for supporters of Amendment 2.
Each vote is precious to medical pot supporters this year. In 2014, the initiative just barely missed the 60 percent mark, falling two percent short and only receiving 58 percent of the vote.
“Every voter and vote, therefore, is critical,” read the NORML lawsuit.
Norm Kent, the lawyer for NORML Florida, said the Broward Elections’ office’s alleged error could mean bad news for the future of medical marijuana in Florida.
“The end result of this error is catastrophic and cataclysmic,” the lawsuit said.
United For Care, the group spearheading the amendment, sent Deputy Campaign Manager Raymer Maguire to the Broward Elections Office Friday morning. According to messages sent between Maguire and United For Care Campaign Manager Ben Pollara, Snipes told Maguire he would be able to see the ballot in question.
Snipes also told Maguire the elections office prints out five to seven “test ballots” for each ballot style and believed Anne Sallee and her husband’s ballots happened to be two of those test ballots.
She also said she believed there could be up to five faulty ballots but said their office could not prove that at this time.
Floridians are currently in the process of returning absentee ballots, which elections offices will begin opening Monday. Broward election officials will determine whether those ballots are missing the measure at that time.
Amendment 2 would legalize medical marijuana for patients with “debilitating” medical conditions in Florida. Recent polls have shown the majority of Floridians are in support of the measure.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
