Only Two of Six Florida Constitutional Amendments on the Ballot Passed
By Carol Moore, DA FL State Team Co-Chair.
Of the six constitutional amendments on the ballot this year, only two passed: Amendment 2, promoting the right to hunt and fish passed with 67.3% of the vote and Amendment 5, the homestead inflation adjustment with 66% of the vote. Both of these amendments were put on the ballot by the Republican legislators in Tallahassee.
The two amendments put on the ballot by petition campaigns both failed to reach the “supermajority” of 60% (required by a constitutional amendment passed in 2006). Amendment 4 provided the right to an abortion and was backed by a campaign that raised over $90 million to promote the restoration of reproductive justice, after the Florida law limiting abortions to six weeks was passed in 2022 (it did not go into effect until last July due to legal challenges).
DeSantis spearheaded a campaign against the amendment using taxpayer money to set up an anti-abortion website, threaten cable channels with “cease and desist” orders to stop pro-Amendment 4 adverts (overturned in the courts), and toured the state with a group of anti-abortion medics. The amendment won a 57% majority but did not pass the supermajority threshold.
Amendment 3 won a 55.7% majority, again not the supermajority threshold required in Florida. This amendment was opposed by a campaign mainly funded by Republicans using ads involving various law enforcement officers across the state.
The other two amendments which failed were both also proposed by the state Republican legislators. Amendment 1, which would have required school board election candidates to declare their political party affiliation, failed the supermajority with 54.9% of the vote. Since Florida is a “closed primary” state, this amendment would have dis-enfranchised the millions of Florida voters registered as “no party affiliation” from voting in party primaries for school board candidates.
Amendment 6 which also failed with a 50.3% vote. It would have eliminated access to public funding for candidates running for the four state-wide positions of governor, lieutenant governor, Attorney General and Commissioner of Agriculture.
Florida first implemented a public campaign financing program through state law in 1986. Subsequently, in 1998, the Florida Constitution was amended to include public campaign financing after the Constitution Revision Commission placed the amendment on the ballot. This amendment passed with 64% voter approval. The program was designed to encourage broader candidate participation and reduce reliance on large special interest contributions by matching small-dollar donations from individuals.