A paid petition circulator from Lake Worth is facing serious trouble after state investigators say he turned in nearly 1,600 forged signatures while working on a statewide marijuana legalization drive. The allegedly falsified petitions are tied to the Initiative 25-01 effort and stretch across Palm Beach and Broward counties, according to officials. The arrest is the latest chapter in a growing series of investigations into how signatures were gathered for the campaign.
According to CBS12, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement opened a probe on Jan. 14 after a tip from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. Investigators allege Ashford Todd Monroe Jr. submitted about 1,955 petition forms and that roughly 1,595 of them are suspected to be invalid because of forgery, with several voters later saying their personal information was used without permission. CBS12 also reports that one petition carried the name of a person who had died before the date listed and that Monroe was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail.
Probes multiply across the state
State officials have widened their scrutiny of signature gathering tied to the Smart & Safe Florida campaign, rolling out criminal subpoenas and new investigations. The attorney general has announced dozens of criminal probes and said records show roughly 50 circulators turned in more than 21,600 petition forms, many of which raised red flags, according to WPTV. County election supervisors and judges have also tangled over which petitions should count as valid, and courts ordered election officials to update their tallies while the clock ticked toward key deadlines, per WUSF.
Legal stakes for alleged petition fraud
Florida law, along with recent legislative language, makes forging or signing a petition in another person’s name a felony. Lawmakers have also moved to crack down on pay-per-signature setups and identity-theft schemes tied to initiative campaigns. The 2025 bill text and related statutes spell out third-degree felony penalties for signing another person’s name or filling in missing voter information, plus tougher penalties when multiple victims’ identifying information is misused, according to the Florida Senate.
What it means for the legalization push
The arrest could further weaken Smart & Safe Florida’s push to get adult-use cannabis back on the 2026 ballot, after courts and election officials already tossed tens of thousands of signatures. Recent rulings and state invalidations that removed roughly 70,000 disputed signatures left the campaign short of the required threshold and bogged down in litigation, as reported by Cannabis Business Times…