Florida 2018 ballot measures

Elections in Florida, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
• Early voting: Oct. 27 - Nov. 3
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6

• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: No
• Voter ID: Photo ID required
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

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2018 Florida Ballot Measures
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2018 U.S. state ballot measures
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Twelve statewide ballot measures were certified for the ballot in Florida in 2018. All but one measure, Amendment 1, were approved.

HIGHLIGHTS

Three legislative referrals were certified for the ballot: (1) the Permanent Cap on Nonhomestead Parcel Assessment Increases Amendment, (2) the Homestead Exemption Increase Amendment, and the (3) Two-Thirds Vote of Legislature to Increase Taxes or Fees Amendment. All but Amendment 1 were approved.

In 2018, two citizen-initiated constitutional amendments—the Voter Approval of Casino Gambling Initiative and the Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative—were certified for the ballot. Both were approved.

In 2018, the Florida Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) referred eight constitutional amendments to the ballot, combining multiple proposals in some of the amendments. Amendment 8 was blocked from appearing on the ballot. The seven remaining measures referred by the CRC were approved.

On the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Amendment 1	Taxes	Increases the amount of a home's value exempted from property tax	d
LRCA	Amendment 2	Taxes	Makes the cap on nonhomestead parcel assessment increases permanent	a
CICA	Amendment 3	Gambling	Requires voter approval of casino gambling	a
CICA	Amendment 4	Suffrage	Restores the right to vote for most people with prior felony convictions upon completion of their sentences	a
LRCA	Amendment 5	Legislature	Requires 2/3 vote of legislature to impose or increase tax or fee	a
CR	Amendment 6	Judiciary	Adds a Marsy's Law to state constitution, increases judicial retirement age to 75, and prohibits judges from deferring to administrative agencies in interpreting law	a
CR	Amendment 7	Education	Requires death benefits for first responders and military members, a supermajority vote for college fees, and adds state college system structure to constitution	a
CR	Amendment 9	Environment	Bans offshore oil and gas drilling and vaping in enclosed indoor workplaces	a
CR	Amendment 10	Admin of Gov't	Prohibits counties from abolishing certain local offices, changes start date of legislative sessions, and adds an executive office and executive department to constitution	a
CR	Amendment 11	Admin of Gov't	Repeals the following: (a) a prohibition against aliens owning property, (b) a requirement for a high-speed ground transportation system, and (c) a provision saying that changes to a criminal statute are not retroactive	a
CR	Amendment 12	Gov't Acc	Prohibits public officials from lobbying for compensation while in office and six years thereafter	a
CR	Amendment 13	Gambling	Prohibits pari-mutuel (a type of betting pool) operations from racing greyhounds or any other dogs for wagering, prohibits persons in Florida from wagering on the outcome of live dog races occurring in the state	a

Getting measures on the ballot

Florida allows citizens to initiate constitutional amendments. The deadline for initiative petition signatures to be verified for the 2018 ballot was February 1, 2018. As local election officials are given one month to inspect signatures, the suggested deadline to file signatures was January 1, 2018. Proponents of an initiative needed to submit at least 766,200 valid signatures to put their measure on the ballot.

The 2017 state legislative session ran from March 7, 2017, through May 5, 2017, during which time the Florida State Legislature was able to place constitutional amendments on the ballot. The 2018 state legislative session ran from January 9, 2018, through March 9, 2018. The legislature can put a proposed amendment on the ballot upon a 60 percent supermajority vote in both legislative chambers via a joint resolution. Constitutional amendments, be they legislatively referred or initiated, must be approved by at least 60 percent of the electorate.

The Florida Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) convened in 2017. The CRC is an organization provided for in the state constitution that reviews and proposes changes to the Florida Constitution. The 37-member commission meets every 20 years. The CRC of 2017-2018 was sworn in on March 20, 2017, and had until May 10, 2018, to hold public hearings, review proposals, and refer amendments to the ballot for the election on November 6, 2018.

Learn more about the CRC: Florida Constitution Revision Commission

Historical facts

See also: History of Initiative & Referendum in Florida and List of Florida ballot measures

• A total of 79 measures appeared on statewide ballots between 1996 and 2016.
• From 1996 to 2016, an average of seven measures appeared on the ballot during even-numbered years in Florida.
• The number of measures appearing on even-year statewide ballots between 1996 and 2016 ranged from three to 13.
• Between 1996 and 2016, 73 percent (58 of 79) of statewide ballots were approved by voters, and 27 percent (21 of 76) were defeated.
• In 2006, Florida Amendment 3 raised the requirement for approving a constitutional amendment to 60 percent. Between 2008 and 2016, four measures were approved by a simple majority, but failed to meet the supermajority requirement and thus were defeated.

Florida statewide ballot measures, 1996-2016
Years	Total number	Approved	Percent approved	Defeated	Percent defeated	Annual average	Annual median	Annual minimum	Annual maximum
1996-2006	46	41	89.13%	5	10.87%	7.7	7.0	3	13
2008-2016	33	17	51.52%	16	48.48%	6.6	7.0	3	11
All years	79	58	73.42%	21	26.58%	7.2	7.0	3	13

Campaign contributions

See also: Ballot measure campaign finance, 2018

The following chart illustrates how much support and opposition committees had amassed in campaign contributions for each measure on the ballot:

Note: In some cases committees were registered to support or oppose multiple propositions. Ballotpedia lists the total sum that all committees registered to support or oppose each proposition have received in contributions. This means that the sum of all contributions in the chart below is higher than the total amount contributed.

Ballot Measure:	Support contributions:	Opposition contributions:	Outcome:
Florida Amendment 3	$46,151,662.59	$1,769,842.00	a
Florida Amendment 4	$26,252,067.01	$0.00	a
Florida Amendment 5	$0.00	$0.00	a
Florida Amendment 6	$37,252,863.00	$0.00	a
Florida Amendment 7	$0.00	$0.00	a
Florida Amendment 9	$0.00	$0.00	a
Florida Amendment 10	$0.00	$0.00	a
Florida Amendment 11	$64,062.00	$0.00	a
Florida Amendment 12	$0.00	$0.00	a
Florida Amendment 13	$3,382,554.34	$142,443.50	a

Signature petition costs

See also: Ballot measure signature costs, 2018

The cost-per-required signature (CPRS) is a comparison of the amount of money spent on the petition drive to the number of signatures the state requires for an initiative to make the ballot. The following chart illustrates the CPRS for ballot initiatives.

A total of $9.2 million was spent on signature gathering costs for the two initiatives in Florida. Florida was the state with the highest average total petition cost in 2018. The second most expensive initiative petition drive in 2018 was for Amendment 3.

Ballot Measure:	Topic:	Petition company	Cost	Signatures	CPRS
Florida Amendment 3	Gambling	National Voter Outreach, Inc.	$5,282,534.31	766,200	$6.89
Florida Amendment 4	Suffrage	PCI Consultants, Inc.	$3,890,759.12	766,200	$5.08
Averages:	N/A	N/A	$4,586,647	N/A	$5.99

Signature petition costs in Florida include the cost of verifying signatures unless committees state they are unable to pay for verification, in which case proponents are not allowed to pay signature gatherers. Proponents of both 2018 initiatives used paid signature gatherers and paid for signature verification. For Amendment 3 and Amendment, the signature verification costs were $108,385.79 and $143,973.64, respectively.

Not on the ballot

See also: Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot

The list below contains measures that were proposed and reached a certain stage in the initiative or referral process, but did not make the ballot.

Initiatives

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
CICA	Initiative #15-02	Healthcare	Provides for basic acupuncture coverage for certain illnesses and conditions through insurance
CICA	Initiative #15-03	Healthcare	Requires health insurance to provide coverage for complementary and alternative health treatments
CICA	Initiative #15-18	Elections and campaigns	Allows voters to vote in primary elections eliminates government-funded party nominations for those offices
CICA	Initiative #16-01	Supermajority requirements	Repeals the Supermajority Requirement Amendment of 2006
CICA	Initiative #16-03	Marijuana	Legalizes cannabis and establishes certain cannabis-related rights
CICA	Initiative #17-01	Marijuana	Legalizes marijuana for use by persons 21 years of age, allows the state to regulate its purchase and sale

Commission referrals

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
CR	Public Innovation School Districts Amendment	Education	Rules for school districts to become innovation school districts
CR	Florida Open Primaries for General Elections With No Partisan Opposition Amendment	Elections	Voters to vote in a primary election if the primary’s winner will face no opposition, except from write-in candidates, in general election
CR	Employment Eligibility Verification Amendment	Immigration	Require use of elmployment eligibility verification to confirm whether employee can work in U.S. legally
CR	Restrictions on Naming of Government Programs and Property Amendment	Gov't Acc	Prohibit government bodies from naming public facilities, land, or programs after a member
CR	Amendment 8, School Board Term Limits, Allow State to Operate Non-Board Established Schools, and Civic Literacy	Education	Establishes school board term limits, allows state to operate non-board established schools, and requires civic literacy in public education

Legislative referrals

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Elected Secretary of State Amendment	State Exec	Secretary of state as an elected position
LRCA	Judicial Term Limits Amendment	Term Limits	Term limit of 12 consecutive years for certain judges
LRCA	Law Enforcement Exempt from Firearm Purchase Waiting Period and Check Amendment	Firearms	Exempt law enforcement from the waiting period to purchase guns
LRCA	Elected Officials Personal Representation for Compensation Amendment	Gov't Acc	Prohibit elected officials from representing another entity for compensation before government
LRCA	Election and Duties of Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser Amendment	Elections	Elections for county property appraisers

State profile

Demographic data for Florida
	Florida	U.S.
Total population:	20,244,914	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	53,625	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	76%	73.6%
Black/African American:	16.1%	12.6%
Asian:	2.6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	23.7%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	86.9%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27.3%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$47,507	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	19.8%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Florida. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Florida

Florida voted Republican in four out of the six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, four are located in Florida, accounting for 1.94 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Florida had three Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 1.66 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respsectively.

More Florida coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Florida
• United States congressional delegations from Florida
• Public policy in Florida
• Endorsers in Florida
• Florida fact checks
• More...

See also

• 2018 ballot measures
• List of Florida ballot measures
• History of Initiative & Referendum in Florida
• Laws governing the initiative process in Florida
• Florida State Legislature
• Florida Constitution Revision Commission

External links

• Active Initiatives in Florida
• Florida Division of Elections