Florida Amendment 1, Apportionment of the Legislature Amendment (1964)

Florida Amendment 1
Election date November 3, 1964
Topic Redistricting policy
Status Defeated
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Florida Amendment 1 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Florida on November 3, 1964. It was defeated.

A “yes” vote supported providing for apportionment of the Florida legislature.

A “no” vote opposed providing for apportionment of the Florida legislature.

Election results

Florida Amendment 1
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		345,637	34.93%
No		643,832	65.07%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Amendment 1 was as follows:

“

NO. 1—CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE VII Apportionment—Proposing an amendment to Article VII of the Florida Constitution relating to Apportionment and Census, providing that the House of Representatives shall consist of 112 Representatives and the Senate shall consist of 43 member and further providing that the Legislature shall reapportion at the 1971 regular session and every ten years thereafter.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Constitutional changes

ARTICLE VII APPORTIONMENT AND CENSUS Section 1. Composition of the Legislature. The legislature of the State of Florida shall consist of a senate and a house of representatives. Members of the senate shall be elected for a term of four (4) years and members of the house shall be elected for a term of two (2) years. The term of members of the legislature shall expire on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each regular election year. Members of the senate and house of representatives shall be elected as provided by law. Any new county that may be created shall be entitled to one (1) member in the house of representatives in excess of any limit prescribed in the following sections of this article until the next reapportionment and the county shall be assigned when created to a senatorial district as determined by the legislature. Section 2. Senate Apportionment. The legislature shall divide the state into forty-two (42) senatorial districts with only one (1) senator elected in each district; except there shall be two (2) senators elected from the most populous county, the additional senator being assigned the number forty-three (43). The forty-two (42) districts shall be apportioned among the several counties of the state so as to provide equitable representation based upon similar economic interests, geographic area and population. Every district shall consist of contiguous counties, and no county may be divided in creating a senatorial district except Dade County. Section 3. Representation in the House of Representatives. Representation in the house of representatives shall consist of one hundred twelve (112) representatives which shall be apportioned among the counties by the method of equal proportions; that is, each county shall have one representative and the remaining representatives shall be assigned to the counties in proportion to population. The populations of the respective counties for the purposes of this section shall be confined to citizens of the United States and shall not include foreign born persons who have not become naturalized. Section 4. The legislature shall reapportion the representation of the house and senate at the 1971 regular session of the legislature and every ten (10) years thereafter based upon the preceding latest federal decennial census. Section 5. If any part of this joint resolution is declared unconstitutional or null and void then the entire resolution shall be null, void and inoperative.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Florida Constitution

A 60% vote was required during one legislative session for the Florida State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounted to a minimum of 51 votes in the Florida House of Representatives and 18 votes in the Florida State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments did not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. Amendments on the ballot required a simple majority vote in this year.

See also

1964 Measures

• 1964 Measures
• Redistricting policy on the ballot
• 1964 legislative sessions

Florida

• Florida ballot measures
• Florida ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Florida Constitution Revision Commission, "Florida's Constitutions: The Documentary History"
• Ocala Star-Banner, "Automatic Voting Machine Sample Ballot, General Election, November 3, 1964, Marion County, Florida," October 26, 1964