Representatives from civil and voting rights groups hosted a panel to outline their priorities for the 2025 session of the Florida Legislature on March 4, 2025. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)
Amid Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push for lawmakers to further restrict Florida’s citizen initiative process, civil and voting rights groups have labeled the move an attack on Democracy.
The governor has repeatedly called for the overhaul of citizen-led ballot initiatives even after celebrating the November defeat of the proposed constitutional amendments to protect abortion access and legalize recreational marijuana.
“We need to clean up this out-of-control amendment process, and you in the Legislature have the opportunity to do just that and protect Florida’s constitution once and for all,” DeSantis said Tuesday during his State of the State address on the first day of the 2025 legislative session.
A look at proposed election changes (so far) for the 2025 Florida legislative session
Following the governor’s address, social justice and voting rights groups, including Equal Ground, the ACLU of Florida, and the NAACP Florida State Conference, defended Floridians’ right to amend the Constitution during a press conference, saying it is the only recourse citizens have when lawmakers refuse to listen to them.
“The vote is the most powerful tool that we have to choose the direction of our state,” said Genesis Robinson, Equal Ground’s executive director. “It is how we hold our leaders accountable, shape our communities, and demand change, and any effort to undermine that right is an attack on democracy itself.”
Majorities of voters supported both amendments, but they needed 60% supermajorities to pass. Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group backing abortion rights, agreed to pay a $164,000 fine to the Department of State after it accused the group of petition fraud.
Spring Hill Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia is following DeSantis’ lead, putting forward a bill, SB 1414, to eliminate third-party collection of petition forms. Instead, those forms would undergo the verification measures used in vote-by-mail. Under existing law, groups backing the initiatives need to collect nearly 900,000 signatures.
Lee County Republican Jenna Persons-Mulicka filed a bill, HB 1205, imposing fines for initiative sponsors if any petition collectors have been convicted of felonies. Under the bill, sponsors would also have to pay a $1 million bond to the Florida Division of Elections.
The proposed changes to the process follow the successful constitutional amendment to raise the minimum wage and the governor’s use of state resources to campaign against the 2024 ballot initiatives, said Abdelilah Skhir, a senior strategist for the ACLU of Florida.
“Now, they’re coming back and almost trying to derail the entire process, right?” he said. “It’s almost like, you know, back in school … when you’re playing a game with a kid on the playground, and then you start beating that kid, and then they start just making up rules on the spot.”
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