Democratic-led groups propose constitutional amendments to expand voting access

Same day registration and voting is among the proposed amendments.

Democrats are not waiting for court challenges to play out before they start moving forward with ways to expand voter access.

Political committees filed three proposed constitutional amendments that would expand voting in Florida Friday.

Former state Representative from Tampa and 2018 Democratic Nominee for Florida Attorney General, Sean Shaw, chairs all three committees that filed the amendments.

One proposed amendment, filed by a group called Our Votes Matter, would automatically register people to vote when they received a “new, renewed, updated, or replacement Florida driver’s license or ID card,” unless the person chooses to opt out of the registration.

Another proposed amendment, filed by Florida Votes Matter, would allow people to both register and vote at the same time at early voting sites during early voting and at polling places on Election Day.

A third proposed amendment would make it illegal to deny voters their ability to vote because of “any debt, including legal financial obligations.”

That amendment was filed by a group called Fair Vote Florida and appears to be a direct response to issues surrounding a 2018 amendment. That year voters agreed to an amendment to restore the rights of felons to vote. But lawmakers put a wrench in that plan after they passed an implementation law saying felons could vote again only if their monetary debts were paid.

The committees need to get 891,589 petition signatures for each proposed initiative to appear on the 2022 ballot. A judge also has to approve the wording of each amendment through a process called judicial review.

The amendments, along with any other proposed constitutional amendments, could be burdened by a new law that takes effect in July and limits campaign contributions for proposed ballot amendments to $3,000 during the signature process. That law faces a court challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

The limit is the same placed on donations to statewide candidates, but the ACLU claims in its lawsuit that limiting contributions to state ballot initiatives violates Florida citizens’ free speech, as protected by the First Amendment. The ACLU is relying on caselaw settled for over 40 years that the First Amendment prohibits the government from limiting citizens’ ability to pool resources to advocate for ballot measures, including by giving contributions.

The state has a history of citizen-led ballot proposals, but some lawmakers want to slow down the evolution of the Florida Constitution. Democrats contend the costs for campaigns to get initiatives on the ballot have increased because of Republican-led legislation.

In recent years, lawmakers have imposed restrictions limiting paid signature gatherings and shortening the time for gathering signatures.

The state requires a petition to have signatures totaling at least 8% of the votes cast in the previous presidential election for the proposed amendment to make it on the next General Election ballot.

Florida also has a signature distribution requirement, which means those signatures must be collected from at least 14 of the state’s 27 congressional districts.

Republicans have their own ballot initiative they would like to see passed in 2022. This past Session both chambers voted to put before voters a constitutional amendment that would abolish the Constitution Revision Commission. That 37-member commission, created in 1968, meets every 20 years to propose amendments to the Florida Constitution. It is one of five methods in Florida to amend the state constitution.