Amendment 4 needed 60% to pass. Why? Blame the pigs.

Voters are energized for 2024, and early numbers reflect the buzz.

One reason Amendment 3 and Amendment 4 failed to legalize recreational marijuana and protect abortion rights in Tuesday’s election?

Blame pregnant sows.

A majority of voters supported both ballot initiatives, but not enough to propel them past the 60% approval rate to pass.

Florida makes it harder than most states to pass a constitutional amendment. With a few exceptions (like Colorado, which has a 55% approval rate), most states require measures to get at least 50.1% of the vote to win.

The story of what makes Florida so tough begins in 1996 when Republicans took control of the Legislature for the first time in a hundred years. They never let it go.

“They began to get frustrated with some of the constitutional amendments that were being proposed and passed because one of the ways that people can go around the Legislature in Florida is to propose an initiative petition,” said University of Central Florida political science assistant professor Aubrey Jewett.

By the early 2000s, voters approved class-size limits, created universal pre-K, and building a high-speed rail system to connect five cities.

“Conservatives at the time were concerned,” Jewett said. “Because of the cost. Again, (the initiatives) didn’t have any particular extra tax mechanism or anything, but they were requiring things that were going to cost money.”

Perhaps “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Jewett said, was when voters also approved an animal rights ballot initiative to enshrine protections for pregnant sows into the state constitution. With 55% of the vote, the measure passed in 2002.

“But really pregnant pigs, is that the kind of thing that should be in the Florida constitution?” was the mindset back then, Jewett said.

Jewett also pointed out that another argument for Florida to take action was the high bar for changing the U.S. Constitution, which requires a three-fourths vote.

In 2006, lawmakers introduced a ballot initiative seeking to raise the approval rate to 60% for future ballot questions.

“The biggest irony of all is that it passed, but only with 58% of the vote,” Jewett said.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce, which pushed for the 60% change, argued that it would prevent the most controversial proposals from passing.

Today, Florida’s 60% threshold makes it tougher — but not impossible — for progressive initiatives to get enacted, like restoring felon rights, raising the minimum wage, and legalizing medical marijuana.

But Tuesday’s election proved the challenges ahead since Republicans have made big gains in Florida and the state turns redder, Jewett said.

“The majority of Floridians spoke last night. They do not want this (six-week abortion) ban. They made it very loud and very clear,” said Lauren Brenzel, Yes on 4 campaign director, after 57% supported Amendment 4. “And had we been any other state, we would be celebrating right now.”