Florida’s First Proposed Constitutional Amendments for the 2024 Ballot
Bottom Line: While many citizen-led ballot measures, 19 in total, are currently being attempted for inclusion in 2024’s general election ballots, two have already found their way onto it. Among the 337 bills passing Florida’s recently concluded state legislative session were two proposed constitutional amendments. Those two are the Partisan School Board Elections Amendment and the Right to Hunt and Fish Amendment. In this first look at each of these proposed constitutional amendments, which will require a minimum of 60% support to pass, here’s a breakout of each courtesy of BallotPedia.
Florida Partisan School Board Elections Amendment
PARTISAN ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARDS.— Proposing amendments to the State Constitution to require members of a district school board to be elected in a partisan election rather than a nonpartisan election and to specify that the amendment only applies to elections held on or after the November 2026 general election. However, partisan primary elections may occur before the 2026 general election for purposes of nominating political party candidates to that office for placement on the 2026 general election ballot.
A "yes" vote supports making school board elections partisan beginning in the November 2026 general election and for primary elections nominating party candidates for the 2026 election.
A "no" vote opposes making school board elections partisan, thereby maintaining current procedures where school board members are elected in a nonpartisan election.
Florida Right to Hunt and Fish Amendment
Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to preserve forever fishing and hunting, including by the use of traditional methods, as a public right and preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife. Specifies that the amendment does not limit the authority granted to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission under Section 9 of Article IV of the State Constitution.
A "yes" vote supports establishing a constitutional right to hunt and fish in Florida.
A "no" vote opposes establishing a constitutional right to hunt and fish in Florida.
Next year, as part of the Florida Amendment series I’ll break these down and offer how I recommend voting on them as I’ve historically done. The question is whether these first two proposed amendments will be the only two. Last year none of the citizen led proposed amendments were successful in attempting to meet the requirement to make their way onto our ballots. Many high-profile issues, like sports betting, are among those being attempted once again. In order for citizen led proposals to make their way onto ballots, sponsors must first procure 891,589 verified signatures, equal to 8% of the votes cast in the preceding presidential election. As of now the only one which is on track to obtain the necessary signatures is the proposal which would legalize recreational marijuana use in Florida. It has over 841,000 collected signatures to date.