Florida Initiative Qualifies for Ballot

On June 22, the Florida Secretary of State announced that the “Florida Hometown Democracy” Initiative has qualified for the 2010 ballot. It is the only initiative that has qualified for that ballot so far. It needed 676,811 valid signatures, and it had 698,562 valid. The group took 4 years to collect its signatures. The initiative only qualified because a week earlier, the Florida Supreme Court invalidated a 2007 law that lets initiative petition signers remove their names. Opponents of the initiative had been out in public, circulating the paperwork for signers to delete their names.

The initiative would require city and counties to hold a referendum before changing their comprehensive land use plans. Opponents of the initiative will now circulate their own counter initiative, which would also permit such local votes, but only after a group upset by the change had completed a petition within that city or county signed by 10% of the registered voters. Initiatives need 60% approval to pass in Florida.


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