Drew Wilson
A proposed ballot amendment that would make it harder for future constitutional amendments to pass is nearing the signature threshold to make it onto the 2020 ballot.
As of Wednesday afternoon, political committee Keep Our Constitution Clean had 686,029 verified petition signatures.
The signature tally has climbed quickly this month, with more than 100,000 signatures verified in the past two weeks, though it still needs about 80,000 more to go before voters.
Amendment sponsors must gather 766,200 signatures in order to make the ballot, a number pegged to 8% of votes cast in the most recent presidential election. The deadline for the remaining signatures to be verified is Feb. 1.
The rules also require sponsors to clear the 8% threshold in at least 14 of Florida’s 27 congressional districts. As of Wednesday, it had hit the mark in a dozen districts and was close to meeting the requirement in Florida’s 8th Congressional District and Florida’s 12th Congressional District.
Keep Our Constitution Clean’s proposal would require future amendments be passed by voters twice before they are included in the Florida Constitution.
Increasing the necessary rounds of public approval, from one round, would make Florida’s constitution one of the hardest state constitutions to change.
In October, a survey conducted by St. Pete Polls found the proposed amendment was backed by 49% of voters while 30% were opposed and 21% were undecided. Constitutional amendments need the approval of 60% of voters to pass.
