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Florida Initiative History

 

 

 

 

·    Florida Initiative History

·    Frequently Asked Questions

·    Current Circulating Initiatives

·    Press Page

·    Who’s Behind VoteSmartFlorida?

·    Nationwide Initiative Process

 

History of Florida’s Initiative Use

Fact or Fiction? Do you have the whole truth??

 

FICTION: The number of initiative measures is out of control.

 

        FACT: Since 1976, only 21 citizen initiatives have made it to the ballot, out of 142 filed.

 

        FACT: Only 76% (16 of 21) of the initiatives have passed.

 

        FACT: On average, 1.5 initiatives per general election have qualified for statewide ballots.

 

 

FICTION: The integrity of the Florida Constitution has been compromised by ballot initiatives.

 

        FACT: Out of 95 amendments to the Florida Constitution since 1970, state legislators proposed 69.

 

        FACT: Only 16 of the 95 amendments were proposed by citizen initiatives.

 

        FACT: 95% of legislature referrals make it to the ballot, while only 14% of citizen initiatives do.

 

 

FICTION: Citizens do not understand the substance of what they are voting on.

 

        FACT: If lack of information about ballot initiatives is really a problem, the Chamber of Commerce should call for the creation of state-sponsored voter pamphlets, public forums, and other public information efforts.