Tampa Bay, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
There are six statewide referendum amendments on this years' Florida ballot.
Below is each referendum by Title and a brief summary.
My comments are in italics.
Amendment 1
States in the state Constitution that only U.S. citizens who are 18 years
old or older can vote in federal, state, local, or school elections.
This amendment would prohibit non US citizens from voting in
federal, state, local, or school elections. Residents, holding a work visa, education
visa, or work permit or any other form of documentation allowing them to be in
the United States would be prohibited from voting in Florida.
A 60 percent
supermajority vote is required for the approval of
Amendment 1.
Amendment 2
Increases the state minimum wage to
$15 by 2026.
The Second
Amendment increases the state minimum wage to $15 by 2026. This amendment is
being challenged by those who claim it would cause employers to reduce the
amount of hiring going forward toward the 2026 deadline. There is no empirical
data that would show there is any validity to this argument.
Basically,
being fought by hospitality and low-income employers, their objective is to
hold down labor costs going forward.
A 60 percent supermajority is required for the approval of
Amendment 2.
Amendment 3
Establishes a top-two open primary
system for state office primary elections.
Supports establishing a top-two open primary system for
primary elections for state legislators, the governor, and cabinet (attorney
general, chief financial officer, and commissioner of agriculture) in Florida.
Amendment 3, establishes a top-two open primary system for
state offices in the primary elections. What this means is in primary elections
for the governor, the legislators and the Florida cabinet consisting of the
attorney general, chief financial officer, and commissioner of agriculture, every
registered voter could vote for any candidate. Currently, these primaries are
closed by political party meaning that Democrats can vote for the Democrats,
Republicans can vote for Republicans; independents can vote for the independent
candidates if there are any.
Under this amendment in the primaries, the elections would be
wide-open anyone registered of any party
could vote for any candidate of any party, and the top two vote getters would
go onto the general election.
As more and more people prefer to register as independent voters not revealing or taking a political party, this Amendment would open up Florida’s primaries to a more reasonable rational selection of candidates for top state offices.
A 60 percent supermajority vote is required for the approval of Amendment 3.
Amendment 4
Requires voter-approved
constitutional amendments to be approved by voters at a second general election.
Amendment 4 would simply require that constitutional
amendments put on the ballot by citizens or legislators following the proper
process, would require two votes before they became an amendment to the Florida
Constitution.
In a world where things move as fast as they do today this
amendment could put multiple years delay in important changes to the Florida
constitution to deal with immediate concerns.
This amendment was driven significantly by the push to
legalize marijuana, and the current effort related to Amendment 2 raising the Florida
minimum wage. A number of people, including some very powerful politicians feel
the process to generate amendments and get them placed on the ballot is now too
easy to accomplish and are attempting to slow down the process with this
amendment.
Amendment 4 is bad politics and bad government it really
deserves your no vote.
A 60 percent supermajority vote is required for the approval
of Amendment 4.
Amendment 5
Increases the
period during which a person may transfer "Save
Our Homes" benefits to a new homestead property from two years to three years.
Amendment 5 is a
clean up amendment that helps prevent people from losing their save our homes benefits,
which are essentially property tax credits if the time from the sale of an
existing home to a new home takes longer than two years.
A 60 percent supermajority vote is required for the approval
of Amendment 5.
Amendment 6
Allows a homestead property tax
discount to be transferred to the surviving spouse of a deceased veteran.
Amendment 6 provides
for the transfer of homestead property tax discount credits to the surviving
spouse of a deceased veteran. Currently, those benefits are terminated following
a veterans’ death.
A 60 percent supermajority vote is required for the approval
of Amendment 6.
60 percent supermajority vote: A supermajority
requirement is a requirement in some votes and elections where more than a
simple majority of those voting must vote in favor of a proposal in order for
it to be considered to have been approved.
As you can see, every vote on the referendums is extremely
important.
Information
above taken from Ballotpedia
On your local ballot, there may be additional referendums
depending on the County and City you live in. If you have a question about a
local referendum, check with the local newspaper, or major television station
web site. You can find good information on GOOGLE, just put the referendum
Title and County/City in the search box.
All of these referendums are important. Carefully note that the referendums appear on the back of the first page of your ballot and on the front and back of the second page of your
Be sure to vote for all the offices on the Ballot as well as
all the referendums.
E-mail
Doc at mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me a Facebook (E. Eugene Webb) Friend
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BAY.
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