Florida Constitution

The deputy secretary of state has asked election supervisors in Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola and Palm Beach counties to gather roughly 36,000 signatures to review.

Ken Griffin, CEO of the firm Citadel, in an opinion piece in the Miami Herald, calls the proposed amendment “a terrible plan to create the nation’s most expansive and destructive marijuana laws.”

The 1st District Court of Appeal quickly denied a request filed by Floridians Protecting Freedom, a political committee sponsoring the proposed constitutional amendment.

Amendment 4 supporters accused the members of the Financial Impact Estimating Conference of misleading voters by including that the measure could lead to Medicaid-funded abortions and costly lawsuits.

Floridians Protecting Freedom filed a brief that said the 1st District Court of Appeal should reject Florida's arguments that a circuit judge did not have authority to order redrafting the statement.

The ruling was the latest twist in a legal battle about the financial impact statement, which appear with ballot initiatives to provide estimated effects on government revenues and the state budget.

The “financial impact statement” would be presented to voters with a proposed constitutional amendment that seeks to ensure abortion rights.

The poll of 1,000 Florida registered voters shows 32% are unsure. The proposal requires 60% of the vote to pass. Also, a majority said a six-week abortion ban that takes effect May 1 is "too strict."

Florida is one of 10 states where the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid for low-income adults has not been implemented.

The signature totals posted Friday on the Division of Elections website showed that the largest number of valid signatures, 54,277, had been collected in Congressional District 14 in Hillsborough and Pinellas.

The University of North Florida poll sampled voters across the state from Nov. 6- 26. Of the 716 registered voters who participated, 277 were completed via telephone and 439 online.

Attorneys for Floridians Protecting Freedom wrote that the meaning of “viability” in the context of abortion has long been understood. Attorney General Ashley Moody contents otherwise.