BY LOUIS C. WARD
CENTRAL FLORIDA – How Floridians vote on six constitutional amendments at the presidential election on November 5, 2024 will alter their lifestyle one way or another. The amendments range from knocking back the abortion ban to legalizing marijuana for recreational use to having partisan elections for community school boards and more.
For more than fifty years, women had the right to decide whether to continue or discontinue their pregnancy. That’s changed. The United States Supreme Court’s conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. Now, the states determine if abortions will be legal or illegal. And Florida’s Republican dominated State Legislature immediately passed a 6-weeks abortion ban.
The push back from women and men all over the country was loud, clear, and strategic. It’s a major national issue that voters will decide in the 2024 presidential election. Floridians seeking to return the right to women to decide the important decisions affecting their bodies be made by them were able to get the issue on the ballot as Amendment 4.
“The six-week abortion ban is a serious threat to our women’s pregnancies and their lives”, said Trevor Mallory, a Pinellas County resident and President of the Democratic Black Caucus Florida.
“Many women will not know if they’re pregnant immediately after 6 weeks. If a woman is raped, or is a victim of incest, or faces a serious life and death health condition, there is no exception or provision for medical assistance because it is against the present law,” insisted President Mallory.
“The law threatens to arrest doctors if they treat patients. This ruling literally sets our women up to wait until the brink of death to receive care,” concluded President Mallory, who leads a major Black political organization that represents more than 2 million Black Voters in the sunshine state. He urges Floridians to vote “Yes” for Amendment 4.
“Around 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to obtain a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.”
Amendment 4 makes abortion under certain circumstances a state constitutional right.
Cassandra Brown, Co-founder and Executive Director of All About the Ballot, a nonprofit, non-partisan, and civically engaged organization in Lake County, Florida, said “Black Women’s bodily autonomy has long been the target of the most brutal forms of violence and control. The overturning of Roe V. Wade, alongside Florida’s draconian abortion ban, takes us further down a dangerous path toward oppression, reminiscent of slavery.”
Many, if not most, Floridians believe a “Yes” vote for Amendment 4 at the November 5 election is a must. A vote of at least 60 percent of Florida’s electorate is required to pass an amendment.
The League of Women Voters of Florida, NAACP Florida State Conference, Mi Familia en Accion, Service Employees International Union(SEIU) Florida, ACLU Florida, Florida for All, Equality Florida, National Council of Jewish Women, Florida National Organization for Women, and Equal Ground, all very prominent and active organizations support a “yes” vote for Amendment 4.
Proponents of Amendment 1 want to bring politics into local school boards by changing their election from non-partisan to partisan. Lake County School Board member Mollie Cunningham is “very much opposed to making school board elections partisan.” Her reasoning is on point: “This will in some cases eliminate some people from having an opportunity to vote.”
The former educator, with more than thirty years of teaching and as an administrator who maintained “A” status schools, Ms. Cunningham said, “In some places like Lake County, if only Republicans run, the people registered as Democrats or Independents will have no opportunity to vote thereby having no voice.”
One’s political affiliation should have no place in the education of our children, only their true concern for the educational welfare of our children to meet Florida’s educational standards. Ms. Cunningham is in agreement with that premise: “The school board elections should include all voters because it affects all children regardless of their parents’ political affiliation.”
Legalizing marijuana for recreational use for adults 21 and over sums up Amendment 3. For some the passage of Amendment 3 will cut down arrests of minorities for illegal possession of the drug. For others, there’s the contention that we are a society with a major problem of addiction to drugs, alcohol and possibly now, marijuana. And there’s the profit motive: the enormous amount of money that marijuana growers can make, which often is not allocated to all ethnic groups. Setting the stage to create a monopoly by the largest grower.
Florida Law Enforcement, specifically, Florida Police Chief Association opposes Constitutional Amendment 3, citing that it “will hurt public safety and ultimately cost Floridians tax dollars and lives.” It’s very possible that passage of Amendment 3 will increase driver accidents from those individuals who are under the influence of marijuana.
It’s important to note that the League of Women Voters of Florida, Mi Familia en Accion, Florida for All, Common Cause Florida and Equality Florida do not support Amendment 3.
Okaloosa County State Committeewoman Jill Lewis-Daggs opposes Amendment 2, which establishes the right to hunt and fish and makes it the preferred means of managing fish and wildlife. She said “Amendment 2 is a way for corporations and game hunters to exploit Florida’s fish and wildlife. To protect our environment, we must vote “No” on Amendment 2 or risk permanent extinction of protected species and over-harvesting of marine life unique to Florida.”
Only two organizations opposed the amendment. The remaining eight organizations did not take a position.
Increasing the homestead tax exemption is the premise of Amendment 5. No position taken on it by major organizations. The NAACP opposed it.
Amendment 6, which ends Florida’s public campaign financing program that provides an incentive for candidates to seek support from everyday citizens, not just wealthy donors and powerful special interests. Seven out of the ten organizations opposed it, and so did Derrick Scott, Escambia County Democratic Party Chair.
“It is critical that we vote “No” on Amendment 6 to preserve the ability for anyone who has a desire to run for any State Executive Office,” Scott emphasized. “If this amendment passes, only the rich and those funded by deep-pocket special interest groups could effectively run for these offices.”
