By Aspen McAdoo and Koa Davidson

   When it comes time to vote this November, many Florida voters are only focused on one thing; the presidential election. While that is extremely important, voters tend to forget to research other votes that will be on the ballot. One of votes being the Florida amendments. This upcoming election voters in the state of Florida will be voting on six different amendments; each one needing 60 percent of the vote to be passed and put into the Florida Constitution. Some of the amendments will draw the attention of voters more than others, but each one is important in its own way.

   Amendment One: The first amendment being voted on is to make the election of district school board members partisan. Since 1998, school board elections have been nonpartisan meaning the candidates political party didn’t appear next to their name on the ballot. The passing of this amendment would make these elections partisan again having the candidates political party appear next to their name on the ballot. If this amendment was passed, it would take place in November 2026 general election.

   Amendment Two: The next amendment being voted on is the right to fish and hunt. If passed, this amendment would preserve hunting and fishing forever as a public right in the Florida constitution and establish that hunting and fishing are the preferred means for responsibly managing and controlling fish and wildlife. But this amendment specifies that if passed it does not limit the authority granted to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission under Section Nine of Article IV of the State Constitution.

   Amendment Three: The most well-known proposal for this elections cycle, the law would allow adults over the age of 21 to purchase and use marijuana for nonmedical purposes. The amendment is sponsored by Smart and Safe Florida, who argues that the complete legalization of weed would allow for the regulation of the drug leading to safer versions available on the market. The said product will also be subject to a sales tax increasing revenue for the state government. Additionally, it would provide economic growth by allowing for the creation of a new legal industry of marijuana cultivation. Opponents of the bill point to how marijuana strains have increasingly gotten more potent and therefore more dangerous throughout the past decades and fear this trend will only worsen as companies will attempt to strengthen their product to beat out the competition. Another reservation people have about the bill passing is how it will turn consumers away from local medical-only dispensaries who will be unable to compete with an influx of large marijuana firms setting up shop in the state. 

   Amendment Four: This amendment addresses abortion. The overturning of Roe V. Wade caused by the Dobbs Decision allows for individual states to legislate on whether abortion should be allowed or not. Amendment 4 would enshrine the right to terminate a pregnancy in the Florida Constitution acting as a bulwark against legislation which would seek to limit it. The bill is sponsored by Floridians for Freedom, Inc. Opponents of the bill would argue that abortion is tantamount to infanticide while proponents would argue that abortion is necessary as it poses a risk to the mother to not abort in certain cases. 

   Amendment Five: The fifth amendment being voted on is to provide an annual adjustment to homestead exemption value. This amendment proposes a requirement of an annual adjustment for inflation to the value of current or future homestead exemptions. If passed, it could mean savings for homeowners who apply for homestead exemptions.

   Amendment Six: The final amendment that will appear on the ballot is to repeal the public campaign financing requirement. Currently candidates running for office can receive public funding once they raise a certain amount themselves. Passing this amendment would mean there would be no more public funding for candidates running for governor/ lieutenant governor, attorney general, chief financial officer, and agriculture commissioner.

   While each amendment carries value, some may seem more important to voters than others. Those amendments being amendment three, legalizing marijuana and amendment four, restricting government interference with abortion. At Ponte Vedra High School (PVHS), 45 students who are eligible to vote and plan to vote in the upcoming election, only two out of the 45 students (four percent) knew what amendments were going to be on the ballot. Each student surveyed was informed about amendment three and four regardless of if they knew what they were or not.

   Each student was asked what they plan on voting for amendment three (legalizing marijuana) and 39 of the 45 students surveyed (87 percent) said they would vote yes on this amendment. The students surveyed were also asked what they planned on voting for amendment four (restricting government interference with abortion) and 28 out of the 45 students surveyed (62 percent) said they would vote to pass this amendment. Obviously, the students weren’t given enough time to research each topic in depth and some student’s answers could change with more research.

   Many of these votes can get shadowed by the presidential election but in reality, these votes can be just as important. Jack Brady, a senior at PVHS said, “It’s so easy to get caught up in the presidential election and forget about the other votes because that is what most of media focuses on. But these other votes that don’t get as much attention still play a huge factor in our lives.” In today’s age this is reality. Pretty much all of the attention gets placed on the presidential election and it becomes easy to forget about the other things on the ballot.

   This upcoming election plays a huge role on people’s lives from who becomes the president to the local office. Certainly, the Florida Amendments being voted on will be one of those things that will play a huge role in one’s future.   

Graphic by Ryder Navarra