Vote 2020: Florida Constitutional Amendments By Shelly Wilson
In addition to a bevy of down-ballot candidate choices, Florida voters face a decision on six amendments to the state constitution this election. All amendments must pass with a “supermajority,” or a 60% vote. The Gabber has broken down each amendment, including major arguments for and against each measure. Find more information on Florida’s candidates and amendments at ballotpedia.org/Florida.
Amendment 1: Citizen Requirement for Voting Initiative Amendment 1 is a matter of semantics. If passed, Amendment 1 would change two words in Florida’s constitution regarding citizenship requirements to vote. Florida’s constitution already
stipulates that voters should be citizens. The current constitution states: “Every citizen of the United States who is at least eighteen years of age and who is a permanent resident of the state, if registered as provided by law, shall be an elector of the county where registered.” Amendment 1 would change that language to “Only a citizen of the United States…” The proposal comes from Florida Citizen Voters, a group that has supported similar measures in Alabama and Colorado, and says they mean to clarify who cannot vote. Opponents include the ACLU of Florida and the Florida Chapter of the League of Women Voters, which calls it “cloaked in xenophobia and false patriotism.” The groups have expressed concern over “increasingly costly and burdensome verification requirements” for voters. The editorial boards of five major newspapers in Florida also oppose the measure.
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A “Yes” vote supports changing the language to “only a citizen”; a “No” vote maintains the current “every citizen.”
Amendment 2: $15 Minimum Wage Initiative Florida’s minimum wage is currently $8.56 an hour. Amendment 2 aims to change the minimum wage incrementally, reaching $15 an hour by 2026. After that, it calls for an annual adjustment based on increases to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Opponents like the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association say raising minimum wage will force businesses to cut jobs; supporters include the League of Women Voters of Florida, which says, “Florida’s present minimum wage yields $17,800 a year for a full-time worker, which doesn’t come close to a living wage for a family of four.” It’s worth noting that, in a recent op-ed, Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Nikki Fried, warned that the Florida Legislature might find a way to subvert the will of the people if the amendment passes, as has happened with the 2014 conservation amendment, a 2016 amendment legalizing medical marijuana and, in 2018, when Floridians voted to restore felons’ voting rights. “Given what we’ve seen from the Florida legislature,” Fried wrote, “I fear this will be another imperiled approach to impactful change that is desperately needed for working Floridians.” A “Yes” vote supports the initiative to increase the state’s minimum wage incrementally to $15 per hour in 2026; a “No” vote keeps Florida’s minimum wage at $8.56 per hour.
Amendment 3: TopTwo Open Primaries for State Offices Initiative This one’s a bit tricky. It appears to do away with Florida’s closed primaries at the state level, where only registered Republicans vote in Republican primaries, and only
theGabber.com | October 29 - November 4, 2020
