Florida Allow Electronic Signatures for Initiative Petitions or Candidate Ballot Access Initiative (2026)
| Florida Allow Electronic Signatures for Initiative Petitions or Candidate Ballot Access Initiative | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Ballot measure process and Initiative and referendum process |
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| Status |
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| Type Initiated constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Not on the ballot
The Florida Allow Electronic Signatures for Initiative Petitions or Candidate Ballot Access Initiative (Initiative #25-02) was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2026.
The ballot initiative would have allowed electronic signatures for initiative petitions and candidate ballot access petitions.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title was as follows:[1]
| “ | Allowing all voters to electronically sign petitions.[2] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot summary was as follows:[1]
| “ | Require the Florida Division of Elections to use the same verification system used to allow eligible voters to register to vote online, to verify their identity online for the purpose of electronically signing any petition to amend Florida�s Constitution or to qualify a candidate or issue for the election ballot.[2] | ” |
Full text
The full text can be accessed here.
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Florida, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8% of the votes cast in the preceding presidential election. Florida also has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures equaling at least 8% of the district-wide vote in the last presidential election be collected from at least half (14) of the state's 28 congressional districts. Signatures remain valid until February 1 of an even-numbered year.[3] Signatures must be verified by February 1 of the general election year the initiative aims to appear on the ballot.
Proposed measures are reviewed by the state attorney general and state supreme court after proponents collect 25% of the required signatures across the state in each of one-half of the state's congressional districts (222,898 signatures for 2024 ballot measures). After these preliminary signatures have been collected, the secretary of state must submit the proposal to the Florida Attorney General and the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC). The attorney general is required to petition the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the measure's compliance with the single-subject rule, the appropriateness of the title and summary, and whether or not the measure "is facially invalid under the United States Constitution."[4]
The requirements to get an initiative certified for the 2026 ballot:
- Signatures: 880,062 valid signatures was required.
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification is February 1, 2026. Officials have 30 days to check signatures.
In Florida, proponents of an initiative file signatures with local elections supervisors, who are responsible for verifying signatures. Supervisors are permitted to use random sampling if the process can estimate the number of valid signatures with 99.5% accuracy. Enough signatures are considered valid if the random sample estimates that at least 115% of the required number of signatures are valid.
Details about the initiative
- Florida Constitutional Amendment Network filed the ballot initiative, which was approved for signature gathering on February 13, 2025.[1]
See also
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Florida Division of Elections, "Initiative #25-02," accessed February 28, 2024
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Before the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1794 of 2020, signatures remained valid for a period of two years
- ↑ Florida State Senate, "Florida Senate Bill 1794," accessed April 13, 2020
