A Friday night report alleging fraud in the Amendment 4 petition-circulation process sparks concerns about how the anti-democratic governor will respond.
When you lose democracy it's very challenging to get it back, and many of the red states have lost it, with the upcoming national election to decide if the rest of the country follows suit.
The initiative having been blessed by the Supreme Court,and the election being imminent, it’s at least going to get voted on. Thereafter it likely will be difficult to get it invalidated. OTOH the legislature may try to effectively repeal it as they did the felon enfranch
I’ve been engrossed in the Ohio shenanigans. I had no idea other States were also twisting their laws into pretzels—all to prevent women from having bodily autonomy. Shame on DeSantis et al. We have to save the Federal Government from his ilk.
David Pepper is doing his best to promote a YES vote this time around. The back room dealings to twist the language and meaning are mind boggling. I hope enough people know and trust David to steer this completely bonkers issue to a finale. He is a straight shooter and brilliant political leader. Tell everyone to vote YES on Issue 1.
"...for a Florida initiative, a certain number of signatures must be gathered from each of a majority of the congressional districts in the state."
This is actually on the ballot this November in AZ, because our R majority lege makes annual attacks on citizens' initiatives. (FL and AZ pass around anti-democratic ideas.)
There's a slight twist in AZ's. Prop 134 is a constitutional change that would require every one of Arizona's 30 legislative districts to provide a certain percentage of the initiative signatures.
It's just another way to maintain minority rule and suppress laws the people want passed, but the 30 yr. R majority doesn't.
Oh man, you gotta love the 21st Century: Texas wants to be a Republic again (eith bounties on pregnant women and the doctors who serve them) and now Florida—it wants to be a theocracy … just like Iran.
Anything goes apparently to stop people voting on a measure the Reps dislike. Probably indicates that they know that if the people had their way it would pass.
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Facebook will allow me to share posts from Substack. They keep removing the posts and threatening to take other actions against me.
Republicans in Florida have a habit of ignoring the will of the people. A previous initiative removed many of the restrictions against felons voting in Florida. The Republicans have continued to throw up roadblock after roadblock to implementing those reforms and continue to deny voting rights to many that have paid their debt to society. It's not surprising that the greatest percentage of people denied that right to vote are black and Latino.
South Dakota passed an initiative to require transparency in government. The legislature immediately called an emergency session and amended it to meaninglessness. I can't imaging our 'representatives' won't do the came thing if we pass the abortion rights amendment.
heaven forfend that a government should let the people decide anything. And I love "extrapolate" as a line of argument. If I "extrapolate" the life spans of my female relatives I am with no argument going to live to 95 and I will SUE if I don't, given this incontrovertible result.
When you lose democracy it's very challenging to get it back, and many of the red states have lost it, with the upcoming national election to decide if the rest of the country follows suit.
Yeah, it's become abundantly clear that the only way to restore democracy and peoples rights in these states is with strong federal action.
Exactly. It reminds me so much of the years that led up to the Civil War.
The initiative having been blessed by the Supreme Court,and the election being imminent, it’s at least going to get voted on. Thereafter it likely will be difficult to get it invalidated. OTOH the legislature may try to effectively repeal it as they did the felon enfranch
Hard as it is to believe, there are people worse than Trump.
the entire cadre who support him….
I’ve been engrossed in the Ohio shenanigans. I had no idea other States were also twisting their laws into pretzels—all to prevent women from having bodily autonomy. Shame on DeSantis et al. We have to save the Federal Government from his ilk.
Me too. Issue 1 is a mess of lies and misinformation on the ballot.
I collected signatures for it and was confident of its passage until I saw the language on the ballot.
David Pepper is doing his best to promote a YES vote this time around. The back room dealings to twist the language and meaning are mind boggling. I hope enough people know and trust David to steer this completely bonkers issue to a finale. He is a straight shooter and brilliant political leader. Tell everyone to vote YES on Issue 1.
This is what happened in
Arkansas with our abortion
ballot amendment. It is no
longer on our ballot after
being approved. They went
after fraudulent signatures
and then payments to the
petitioners. When that didn't
work, the Secretary of State,
who approved it to begin
with, took it apart on word
age and punctuation. Liars
and sneaks.
"...for a Florida initiative, a certain number of signatures must be gathered from each of a majority of the congressional districts in the state."
This is actually on the ballot this November in AZ, because our R majority lege makes annual attacks on citizens' initiatives. (FL and AZ pass around anti-democratic ideas.)
There's a slight twist in AZ's. Prop 134 is a constitutional change that would require every one of Arizona's 30 legislative districts to provide a certain percentage of the initiative signatures.
It's just another way to maintain minority rule and suppress laws the people want passed, but the 30 yr. R majority doesn't.
…. Enfranchisement initiative a few years back.
Thanks for writing this up. My sister lives in Florida and went door-to-door conscientiously collecting those signatures.
Oh man, you gotta love the 21st Century: Texas wants to be a Republic again (eith bounties on pregnant women and the doctors who serve them) and now Florida—it wants to be a theocracy … just like Iran.
Is it just there are some paid canvassers? Am I supposed to believe this process is this rigorously nitpicky for stuff like casinos?
Anything goes apparently to stop people voting on a measure the Reps dislike. Probably indicates that they know that if the people had their way it would pass.
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Facebook will allow me to share posts from Substack. They keep removing the posts and threatening to take other actions against me.
Republicans in Florida have a habit of ignoring the will of the people. A previous initiative removed many of the restrictions against felons voting in Florida. The Republicans have continued to throw up roadblock after roadblock to implementing those reforms and continue to deny voting rights to many that have paid their debt to society. It's not surprising that the greatest percentage of people denied that right to vote are black and Latino.
If it's dirty & evil, DeSantis & the Florida GOP are trying to do it.
https://samray.substack.com/p/the-devil-went-down-to-florida
South Dakota passed an initiative to require transparency in government. The legislature immediately called an emergency session and amended it to meaninglessness. I can't imaging our 'representatives' won't do the came thing if we pass the abortion rights amendment.
"The language of the last sentence of the statute is both broad and vague"
There isn't any law or procedure authoritarians won't exploit.
heaven forfend that a government should let the people decide anything. And I love "extrapolate" as a line of argument. If I "extrapolate" the life spans of my female relatives I am with no argument going to live to 95 and I will SUE if I don't, given this incontrovertible result.