Florida State News
Florida Amendment 3 and Amendment 4 fails to get enough votes to pass
Pensacola News Journal
While the nation is anxiously awaiting election results that will tell them who will lead the United States for the next four years, Floridians will be keeping their eyes on the results of six constitutional amendments.
Florida Amendment 3 and Amendment 4, which focus on legalizing weed and protecting abortion rights, have seen the brunt of ire from the state after Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration spent millions in ads opposing both measures and engaging in losing legal battles to remove them from the ballot.
DeSantis took flak in the months leading up to the election after he used taxpayer funds to pay for public service announcements attacking the measures, threatened to jail TV stations that aired a pro-Amendment 4 ad and sent law enforcement to the homes of people who signed the Amendment 4 petition.
2024 Florida election resultsSee who won and which amendments passed
So when will Florida voters get to know the fate of the six constitutional amendments? Here's what we know.
When will we know the election results for Florida's amendments?
There's a pretty good chance that we'll get a strong snapshot of how Florida feels about each of the six constitutional amendments on the ballot when results begin to be published at 8 p.m. ET.
Under Florida law, counties are able to begin tabulating their results as they come in, which means early voting and vote-by-mail ballot results will be available right out of the gate.
As of 2:26 p.m. on Election Day, nearly 8.3 million Florida voters had either voted early or voted by mail, which is just under 60% of Florida's 13,845,913 registered voters.
The preliminary results reported by the state starting at 8 p.m. will be unofficial, however. Counties have until noon on Nov. 18 to send their official returns. Strong early voting numbers could help the state call the results early.
Will Florida Amendment 3 and Amendment 4 pass? What polls say.
Recent polls surveying Florida residents' support around Amendment 3 and Amendment 4 show that both are favored by the majority of voters, but teeter on the line of gaining the number of votes needed to pass.
The Florida Atlantic University Political Communication and Public Opinion Research Lab (PolCom Lab) and Mainstreet Research USA conducted two surveys between Oct. 19 and Oct. 27, reaching 1,850 Florida voters combined.
The poll found that Amendment 3, which seeks to legalize recreational pot for adults, has substantial support with 60% of voters in favor, 34% opposed and 4% undecided.
Amendment 4, which seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, shows significant support, with 58% of voters in favor, 32% opposed and 10% undecided.
The poll has a 3.2% margin of error.
A University of North Florida's Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) poll published on Oct. 21 surveyed 977 likely Florida voters between Oct. 7 and Oct. 18. The poll showed high Amendment 3 support, with 66% of voters indicating a "yes" vote, 30% saying they would vote "no" and 4% undecided.
On Amendment 4, 60% of the respondents said they would vote "yes," 32% said they would vote "no" and 8% remained undecided.
The PORL poll has a 3.49% margin of error.
How many votes does an amendment need to pass in Florida?
Florida constitutional amendments require a 60% supermajority to pass.
Amendment 1 - Partisan School Board Members election results
Yes: 54.9%
No: 45.1%
Estimated vote in 85.46%
Please note: These are preliminary results as of 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The final numbers will be different as more votes are counted. These numbers were updated at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Amendment 2 - Right to Hunt and Fish election results
Florida Amendment 2, which sought to protect Floridians' right to hunt and fish, passed with 67.3% of the vote.
Yes: 67.3%
No: 32.7%
Estimated vote in: 84.78%
Amendment 3 - Recreational Marijuana election results
Florida Amendment 3, which sought to legalize recreational weed for adults, failed to reach the 60% supermajority needed to pass.
Yes: 55.7%
No: 44.3%
Estimated vote in 89.74%
Amendment 4 - Abortion Access election results
Florida Amendment 4 failed to receive the necessary votes to pass.
Yes: 57%
No: 43%
Estimated vote in 90.71%
Amendment 5 - Homestead Annual Inflation Adjustment election results
Yes: 66%
No: 34%
Estimated vote in: 86.53%
Amendment 6 - Public Campaign Financing election results
Florida Amendment 6, which sought to repeal public financing for political campaigns, failed to pass.
Yes: 50.3%
No: 49.7%
Estimated vote in: 82.52%
What are the six constitutional amendments on Florida's ballot?
With six amendments on the ballot, it can be hard to remember which is which. Here's a quick breakdown:
Amendment 1: Establishing school board elections as partisan — Amendment 1 would require school district board members to list their political party designation on the ballot and be elected in a partisan election, rather than the current nonpartisan elections.
Amendment 2: Right to fish and hunt — Amendment 2 would make fishing and hunting a public right by enshrining it in the state's constitution.
Amendment 3: Adult personal use of marijuana — Amendment 3 would make it legal for adults 21 and older to have up to 3 ounces of marijuana and up to 5 grams of cannabis concentrate. It would also enable them to possess, purchase and use marijuana products and accessories without needing a medical marijuana card, as is the case now.
Amendment 4: Amendment to limit government interference with abortion — Amendment 4 would prohibit any law that limits abortion rights before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's health care provider.
Amendment 5: Annual inflation adjustment for Homestead property tax exemption value — Amendment 5 seeks to require an annual adjustment for inflation for the value of current or future homestead exemptions.
Amendment 6: Repeal of public campaign financing requirement — Amendment 6 seeks to repeal public campaign financing, which gives some candidates running for specific positions, such as governor and other state cabinet positions, what is essentially a subsidy through the use of public money, provided that they stick to some restrictions on how much is spent.
Florida SNAP recipients can now apply for food replacement
Posted 5:37 PM, Oct 13, 2024
TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida Department of Children and Families announced that SNAP recipients will be able to apply for food replacement following Hurricane Milton.
The replacement is for those who lost food due to the storm. In order to apply, individuals must:
- Be a current SNAP recipient
- Fill out the form below by no later than October 19, 2024
- Provide proof of power outage of four hours or more or damage that would have caused food loss to their My ACCESS Account, except for households in Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Desoto, Flagler, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, and Volusia Counties
- Households in Brevard, Clay, Duval, Glades, Hendry, Indian River, Marion, Martin, Okeechobee, Orange, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, and Sumter Counties should complete the replacement form and upload supporting verification of food loss to your My ACCESS Portal using "other" as the document type.
Click here to access the food replacement form.
The do’s and don’ts of applying for FEMA assistance after Hurricane Helene
You can still be eligible for FEMA money if you have insurance
Most Floridians don’t have flood insurance, which means your best option to recover from losses caused by Hurricane Helene may be filing for help through FEMA.
By: Katie LaGrone
Posted
TAMPA, Fla. — By now, you’ve seen the images and heard their stories: Floridians flooded out by Hurricane Helene in what officials are calling record-setting flooding in parts of Tampa Bay.
In the wake of Helene, President Joe Biden approved FEMA funding for Florida last weekend. This means the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can now grant much-needed financial help to residents and business owners in Florida’s 17 hardest-hit counties.
According to FEMA media specialist Jack Pagano, it's money that will literally open the floodgates for assistance. Assistance covers the costs of food, medications, and baby formula, as well as temporary housing, basic home repair costs, and personal property and losses.
“What FEMA is trying to do is turn tragedy into triumph,” Pagano said from the Disaster Recovery Center recently set up at Hillsborough Community College at The Regent in Riverview.
We asked Pagano questions you want answers to about seeking FEMA’s help.
Who’s eligible for FEMA’s help, and who’s not?
Answer: Anyone who suffered loss or damage from the storm may be eligible for assistance.
If you have homeowner’s insurance or flood insurance, are you still able to get help from FEMA?
Answer: Yes, anyone who suffered from losses could be eligible for different kinds of assistance, but financial help will only cover what’s not covered by insurance.
If you qualify for a FEMA grant, are you expected to repay that money?
Answer: No, FEMA grants are not expected to be repaid.
Florida sues DHS for refusing to verify voter registration citizenship information
(The Center Square) – After requesting citizenship status information about registered voters in Florida, and not receiving it from federal agencies as required by law, Florida sued.
In September, Florida requested information from the Department of Homeland Security and its subagencies about citizenship status of a subset of registered voters it identified and its request was denied.
One month later, a coalition of attorneys general, including Florida AG Ashley Moody, called on DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to provide the requested information, after multiple states, including Texas and Florida, also asked for similar information. They made the requests as multiple states also removed thousands of noncitizens from their voter rolls.
On Oct. 16, Moody sued Mayorkas and DHS in U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida Pensacola Division “for refusing to verify immigration records for the State of Florida to ensure voter-roll integrity.”
Under the Biden-Harris administration, millions of illegal border crossers “have flooded into the country,” Moody said. “Florida has an interest in ensuring that only American citizens are registered to vote. Recently, the state identified registered voters who may not be U.S. citizens, and DHS refuses to provide information necessary to determine their immigration status.” Moody sued “to ensure noncitizens are not on the voter rolls.”
“Voting is a right granted to American citizens – not illegal immigrants or other noncitizens,” she said.
The 16-page lawsuit cites federal and state law related to maintaining accurate voter registration records, federal government agencies’ legal requirement to ensure only citizens are voting in elections, among other provisions. “Because the federal government is refusing to comply with these obligations and frustrating Florida’s ability to maintain the integrity of its elections, Florida files this suit,” the lawsuit states.
Under DHS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) uses the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to make immigration status information available to state agencies. The SAVE program was created to share information with federal, state and local agencies “for any legal purpose, such as credentials, background investigations, and voter registration,” the lawsuit says, citing information from the Federal Register.
Florida’s lawsuit follows more than a decade of litigation and interactions with DHS on the issue.
In 2012, Florida sued DHS requesting the court compel DHS to provide Florida with access to the SAVE program to verify voter immigration status. Florida was granted access and entered into a memorandum of agreement with DHS that allowed Florida to access SAVE program information.
“SAVE is a useful but inadequate tool that the State of Florida now uses to protect the integrity of its elections, with notable limitations,” Florida found, citing a range of problems with the program in the lawsuit. “SAVE cannot verify a benefit applicant’s status using a Social Security Number, driver’s license number, U.S. Passport number, foreign passport number, Consular Report of Birth Abroad or other non-DHS documentation,” it states.
Prior to suing DHS this time, Florida identified non-citizen registered voters but could not perform a search about them using the SAVE program because of its limitations. Last month, Florida requested USCIS to provide verification of citizenship status for the identified individuals, which it denied.
“Florida has identified a subset of individuals for whom it cannot verify citizenship or immigration status through SAVE and for whom DHS refuses to verify citizenship or immigration status through other means,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit requests the court to provide permanent injunctive relief, compel DHS to provide the requested information, and argues DHS and its subagencies are violating multiple federal laws, including the Administrative Procedure Act and the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
Other states like Texas requested similar information and didn’t receive it, The Center Square reported. Unlike Florida, Texas has yet to sue Mayorkas on this issue.
Pagano emphasized that the most critical step to getting help from FEMA assistance is applying for it, even if you’re unsure of your eligibility.
Be prepared to include the following information:
A current phone number
The address at the time of the disaster and where you’re staying today
Your social security number
A list of your damage and losses
Banking information (direct deposit info can result in money within a few days)
If insured, your insurance policy number and company name
Keep in mind, if you have homeowners, renters, or flood insurance, FEMA will not duplicate benefits for losses already covered.
You can start that application process in person at one of FEMA’s disaster recovery centers, online, or by phone at 1-800-621-3362.
How to get help from FEMA after Hurricane Helene (fox4now.com)
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| Deep-dish pizza | US$13.20 |
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