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Florida Reapportionment of the Legislature Amendment (1916)
| Florida Reapportionment of the Legislature Amendment | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Redistricting policy and State legislatures measures |
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| Status |
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| Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Florida Reapportionment of the Legislature Amendment was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Florida on November 7, 1916. It was defeated.
A “yes” vote supported providing for a Senator from each county and a system for the number of representatives for each county based on county population. |
A “no” vote opposed providing for a Senator from each county and a system for the number of representatives for each county based on county population. |
Election results
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Florida Reapportionment of the Legislature Amendment |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 10,258 | 36.59% | ||
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17,774 | 63.41% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Reapportionment of the Legislature Amendment was as follows:
| “ | Constitutional Amendment, Article VII, Sections 2, 3, and 4, Relative to Appointment of Representation in Legislature. | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Constitutional changes
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Section 2. The Legislatures that shall convene in the year of 1919 and thereafter shall consist of one member of the Senate from each county in the State, and one member of the House of Representatives from each county in the State for every ten thousand of population therein, or the major fraction thereof where there may be a major fraction left over after dividing the whole number of population of the county by the number ten thousand; Provided, that each county shall have at least one Representative and that no county shall have more than three Representatives in the House of Representatives. The members of the House of Representatives shall be elected for a term of two years and the members of the Senate shall be elected for a term of four years, except as hereinafter provided. The election for members for each branch shall be at the same time and places. The term of office of Senators elected in 1916 shall expire on the first Monday in April 1919. The term of office of Senators elected in 1918 from the following counties, to-wit: Escambia, Gadsden, Jackson, Leon, Madison, Lafayette, Taylor, Columbia, Nassau, Duval, Marion, Sumter, Jefferson, Lee, Monroe, Putnam, Volusia, Hamilton, Alachua, Broward, Liberty, Hernando, Pinellas, Brevard, Palm Beach and Levy, shall expire on the first Monday in April 1921; all other Senators to be elected in the year 1918, their term of office shall expire on the first Monday in April, 1923. All members of the House of Representatives elected at the general election in 1918, their term of office shall expire on the first Monday in April, 1921, and thereafter the term of office of all members of the House of Representatives shall commence in the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April next succeeding the election. At the general election in 1920 and thereafter, all Senators to be elected shall be elected for a term of four years, the term to begin on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April of the following year, except that when a new county is created, the Legislature shall at that time fix the length of the term of the first Senator to be elected therefrom at two or four years with the end in view of keeping the number of old Senators in a balance with the number of the new. Section 3. The regular session of the Legislature that shall meet in 1917 shall apportion the representation in the House of Representatives, as in this Article provided, which apportionment shall be based upon the last census taken by the State of Florida or by the United States, which ever is the last taken, in the several counties of the State, and those that shall meet every ten years thereafter shall apportion the representation in the House of Representatives in the manner in this Article provided, which apportionment shall be based upon the last census enumeration taken by the State of Florida, or by the United States, which ever is the last taken next before the Legislature so apportioning the representation shall convene. Section 4. When any new county is created by the Legislature it shall be entitled to one Senator and one member of the House of Representatives, until the next enumeration provided for in Section 5 of this Article, that shall be taken after the creation of said new county, or until the next census enumeration that shall be taken by the United States of America after the creation of the said new county, whichever shall the sooner be taken after the creation of said new county, when it shall be entitled to one member of the House of Representatives for every ten thousand of population, or the major fraction thereof the same as other counties. |
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
External links
- Florida Constitution Revision Commission, "Florida's Constitutions: The Documentary History"
- The Fort Myers Daily Press, "SAMPLE BALLOT," November 6, 1916
Footnotes
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State of Florida Tallahassee (capital) |
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