Florida Voting and Signing Petitions by Internet Initiative (2022)
| Florida Voting and Signing Petitions by Internet Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Voting policy measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Florida Voting and Signing Petitions by Internet Initiative (Initiative #18-08) was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.[1]
Measure design
This measure would have established online voting in Florida. Under the measure, registered voters would have had the option of voting or signing petitions on the Internet through secure webpages provided by the Florida Division of Elections.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed title would have been as follows:[2]
| “ | Vote by Internet[3] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot summary would have been as follows:[2]
| “ | This amendment creates the option to vote & petition by Internet.[3] | ” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article VI, Florida Constitution
The measure would have added a new section, Section 30, to Article X of the Florida Constitution. The following underlined text would have been added:[2]
Article X, Section 30 Internet Voting & Petitions:
Registered voters shall have an option to voting, and signing petitions by secure webpages, provided by The State of Florida, Division of Elections.[3]
Sponsors
Florida For Change sponsored the initiative.[2]
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.[4] 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."[5]
The requirements to get an initiative certified for the 2022 ballot:
- Signatures: 891,589 valid signatures
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was February 1, 2022. As election officials have 30 days to check signatures, petitions should be submitted at least one month before the verification deadline.
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
- The initiative was approved for circulation on September 10, 2018.[2]
- The initiative's active status was removed on September 15, 2020.[2]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Florida Department of Elections, "Initiative 18-08 text," accessed September 28, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedinitiative - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 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
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