Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Florida Open Primaries Initiative (2020)
| Florida Open Primaries Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Elections and campaigns | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Florida Open Primaries Initiative (Initiative #18-07) was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.[1]
Measure design
The measure would have established an open primary system for state and federal elections in Florida.[1]
An open primary is any primary election in which a voter either does not have to formally affiliate with a political party in order to vote in its primary or can declare his or her affiliation with a party at the polls on the day of the primary even if the voter was previously affiliated with a different party.[2][3]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed title would have been as follows:[4]
| “ | All registered voters must be allowed to vote in primary elections[5] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot summary would have been as follows:[4]
| “ | As primary elections are publicly funded, all voters must be allowed to
participate in every election. If any voter is not allowed to vote in every primary election, public funds, equipment, and buildings shall not be used to facilitate a primary election.[5] |
” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article VI, Florida Constitution
The measure would have amended Section 5 of Article VI of the Florida Constitution. The following underlined text would have been added:[4]
SECTION 5. Primary, general, and special elections.—
(a) A general election shall be held in each county on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each even numbered year to choose a successor to each elective state and county officer whose term will expire before the next general election and, except as provided herein, to fill each vacancy in elective office for the unexpired portion of the term.
A general election may be suspended or delayed due to a state of emergency or impending emergency pursuant to general law. Special elections and referenda shall be held as provided by law.
(b) If all candidates for an office have the same party affiliation and the
winner will have no opposition in the general election, all qualified electors,
regardless of party affiliation, may vote in the primary elections for that office.
(b) This subsection shall govern all primary elections for all federal and state elective offices except for those races in which no party affiliation, registration, or preference appears on the ballot as provided by law; and the system for selection of President and Vice President of the United States.
(1) All primary elections will be open to all electors, regardless of party affiliation, or lack of affiliation, as designated on the elector’s registration form.
(2) If electors not affiliated with a political party are not allowed to cast a vote in a primary election, public funds shall not be used for primary elections.
(3) If electors not affiliated with a political party are not allowed to cast a vote in a primary election, government-owned facilities shall not be used as polling sites.
(4) If electors not affiliated with a political party are not allowed to cast a vote in a primary election, government-owned equipment shall not be used in primary elections.[5]
Sponsors
Florida Fair and Open Primaries filed the initiative.[4]
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.[6] 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."[7]
The requirements to get an initiative certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 766,200 valid signatures
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was February 1, 2020. 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 June 28, 2018.[4]
- The initiative was withdrawn on May 24, 2019.[4]
See also
External links
- Florida Division of Elections Booklet: Proposed Constitutional Amendments 2020 General Election
- Initiative 18-07 information
- Initiative 18-07 full text
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Florida Department of Elections, "Initiative 18-07 text," accessed September 25, 2018
- ↑ FairVote, "Who Can Vote in Congressional Primaries," accessed August 17, 2017
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Primary Election Types," July 21, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedinitiative - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 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
 |
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 |