DeSantis' "kiss of death" for Florida's citizen-led ballot measures
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A "Yes On 4!" volunteer talks with a concert-goer about ending Florida's abortion ban while canvassing last year in Orlando. Photo: Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images
Gov. Ron DeSantis' proposed changes to Florida's ballot initiative laws would likely kill the process citizens have long used to amend the state's constitution, according to direct democracy experts.
Why it matters: If lawmakers enact the governor's wish list, Floridians will effectively lose access to a policy-making avenue they've used to increase the state minimum wage, legalize medical marijuana, restore the voting rights of people with past felony convictions, and more.
- "They want to kill the process," Angelo Paparella, president of PCI Consultants, which has run several petition drives in Florida, told Axios.
- "To mask it under the guise of reform is dishonest at best."
The other side: DeSantis' office did not return Axios' requests for comment.
State of play: Along with changes to immigration law, DeSantis' call this month for a special session included an appeal to reform the citizen-led process to amend the Florida Constitution.
- Whether the session will convene Monday per the governor's request remains unclear. State Senate and House leaders issued a sharp rebuke of DeSantis' special session ask, saying it was "premature."
- But policy proposals posted to the governor's office website shed light on his legislative priorities. The regular law-making session begins March 4.
Zoom in: The first item on his citizen initiative wish list would arguably be the most impactful. It calls to eliminate the third-party signature-gathering process that allows petitions to be collected and submitted in bulk.
- Instead of state-registered workers paid by the ballot measure's sponsors collecting signatures in parking lots or at events, individual voters would have to complete a petition in person at their local election supervisor's office or request a form by mail and turn it back in.
- Such a scheme "wouldn't be feasible," Paparella said.
By the numbers: State law requires campaigns to gather signatures from 8% of the number of Floridians who voted in the last presidential election statewide and in at least half of Florida's congressional districts.
- For amendments that made it onto the ballot in the November election, including the unsuccessful initiatives to expand abortion access and legalize medical marijuana, that number was 891,589 signatures.
- The petitions then go to supervisors of elections, who process and verify the signatures. Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer's office alone received around 125,000 signatures for the abortion amendment and 150,000 for the marijuana measure, data shows.
Between the lines: Requiring individual voters to request and turn in petitions themselves "is another barrier to participation," University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith told Axios.
- Even if a campaign could rally enough voters, the rule would amount to "another unfunded mandate on [elections] supervisors," who would bear the labor and cost of mailing and receiving individual petitions.
- "Is this the kiss of death to the initiative process in Florida? Yeah," Smith said. Without apparent opposition among the GOP-controlled Legislature, he said, "the bulwark against that is going to be supervisors of elections."
What they're saying: Lafayette County Supervisor of Elections Travis Hart, president of a statewide organization representing his colleagues across the state, declined to comment on behalf of the group.
- Spokespeople for the Pinellas and Hillsborough supervisors said it was too soon to comment as no legislation has been filed.