Florida Amendment 7, Selection of Circuit and County Judges Amendment (1998)
| Florida Amendment 7 | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Election date |
|
| Topic State judicial selection |
|
| Status |
|
| Type Commission-referred constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Florida Amendment 7 was on the ballot as a commission-referred constitutional amendment in Florida on November 3, 1998. It was approved.
A “yes” vote supported establishing local elections to determine if circuit and county judges should be elected or appointed and providing the procedures for the decided upon systems. |
A “no” vote opposed establishing local elections to determine if circuit and county judges should be elected or appointed and providing the procedures for the decided upon systems. |
Election results
|
Florida Amendment 7 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
|
|
2,028,165 | 56.90% | ||
| No | 1,536,523 | 43.10% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Amendment 7 was as follows:
| “ | Provides for future local elections to decide whether to continue electing circuit and county judges or to adopt system of appointment of those judges by governor, with subsequent elections to retain or not retain those judges; provides election procedure for subsequent changes to selection of judges; increases county judges' terms from four to six years; corrects judicial qualifications commission term of office; allocates state courts system funding among state, counties, and users of courts. | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Aftermath
Amendment 7 mandated that voters in each of Florida's 20 circuit court districts and 67 county court districts would have a chance to vote on whether to change the way that circuit court and county court judges were chosen. These judges had been chosen, historically, through elections. Since Amendment 7 passed, voters were asked whether they wanted to switch to a system whereby circuit and county court judges would, instead, be appointed by the governor.
The votes on whether to switch to a gubernatorial-appointment method were held two years later, in 2000, and were resoundingly defeated. Voters in each of the 20 circuit court districts and 67 counties voted "no," in some cases by margins as high as 85% or more.
Path to the ballot
The Florida Constitution Revision Commission referred the measure to the ballot.
See also
External links
Footnotes
 |
State of Florida Tallahassee (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
