Jacob Ogles
Before a Florida law restricting petition gathering takes effect, a group aims to see a surge in signatures to put an amendment reversing those rules on the ballot.
The Florida Constitutional Amendment Network will hold a statewide signature petition surge this weekend and station volunteers on Sunday and Monday at the Supervisors of Elections offices in Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach counties to collect petitions.
“We’re not going to let Tallahassee politicians crush our Constitutional Amendment Petition Rights without a fight,” said Chris Wills, Florida Constitutional Amendment Network Chair. “Considering that Tallahassee politicians have refused to do anything for decades to help those who are being forced to leave Florida because of the affordability crisis, if Floridians want real insurance rate reductions, they need to take action before July 1 and sign our petitions.”
Wills’ organization has focused its efforts on gathering petitions specifically for a constitutional amendment to “Protect Voters’ Constitutional Power.” That would eliminate any restrictions on the ballot measure process that aren’t outlined in the Florida Constitution. However, it would leave some items approved by constitutional amendments intact, such as the requirement for measures to reach 60% support to pass.
That includes a new law (HB 1205) set to go into effect on Tuesday, July 1, that consists of several fresh hurdles on the petition gathering process, including a requirement to register all signature gatherers with the state and requiring a two-hour training course and imposing a 10-day timeline to turn in signed petitions.
Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed for changes to the system after his administration conducted a wide-scale investigation of alleged fraudulent signature gathering to put an abortion rights measure on the ballot in 2024. Floridians Protecting Freedom, the political committee behind the measure, ultimately paid a $164,000 settlement reached in December. The measure received 57% support on the ballot but failed because it fell short of the 60% threshold required to pass.
Now, Wills’ network wants to move much quicker than that. Since gaining approval to start collecting petitions at the end of March, the group has verified just seven signatures thoroughly. Wills said the group launched a campaign in earnest on May 2 and has more to the state, but elections supervisors have a full 60 days to validate those as legitimate petitions from registered voters.
To make the 2026 ballot, the group must obtain more than 880,000 signatures from 8% of voters in at least one-half of Florida’s congressional districts and the state as a whole, based on the total number of voters as of the last presidential election.
That’s already a lot of hurdles, with more set to go into effect on Tuesday. But Wills said that’s precisely why the surge will take place this weekend and a demonstration of exactly why the group wants to override efforts by the Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis to make the ballot measure process as burdensome as possible.
The Network currently has three active citizen initiatives and will also collect petitions on allowing electronic signature petitions. The group also proposed a measure regarding property insurance that would restrict insurance policy cancellations for those adhering to contract terms and requiring rate reductions on policies that file no claims.
But Wills encouraged everyone who cares about the petition process or any proposal for the ballot to rally signatures and get them turned in before the election offices close on Monday. His network will work with several Democratic and progressive groups, which have turned to the ballot measure process for actions such as raising the Florida minimum wage, despite opposition from the Republican Legislature. But Wills noted policy measures from across the political spectrum made it into the Constitution after appearing on the ballot.
“Plenty of Republican organizations and citizens have ideas that have gotten on the ballot in the past and would like to again in the future,” he said.
