The Sinister Reason Why Florida Republicans Are Attacking Democracy [View all]
The Sinister Reason Why Florida Republicans Are Attacking Democracy
Florida Republicans have introduced a bill to make it even harder to pass ballot initiatives, ahead of a crucial vote for abortion access in the state.
State Representative Rick Roth quietly introduced a measure in early November to raise the threshold for ballot initiatives to 66.7 percent of votes. Florida already requires 60 percent of voters to support amending the state constitution, meaning the minority rules the Sunshine State. But Roths bill would make it even harder to ratify amendments.
Roth and his fellow Republicans argue that the new threshold is necessary to ensure broader public support for amendments. But whats more likely is that they want to ensure certain issues never succeed at the ballot box.
One such issue is abortion access. Floridas 15-week abortion ban went before the state Supreme Court in September. If the court upholds the law, then an even more restrictive measure banning abortion at six weeksbefore most people know they are pregnantwill go into effect. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the hugely unpopular bill in April.