Amendment 1
Statewide
Yes 53%
No 47%
Duval County
Yes 57%
No 43%
Amendment 1 proposed to repeal a portion of the Florida Constitution relating to public financing for campaigns of candidates for elective statewide office who agree to campaign spending limits. It needed 60 percent approval to pass.
In 1987, the Florida Legislature established public financing in campaigns for governor and cabinet positions with the intent to limit spending and special interests and to open elections for more candidates.
Proponents of the amendment claim it’s a misuse of tax dollars, while opponents claim it’s needed for its original purpose of ensuring an even playing field.
Amendment 2
Statewide
Yes 78%
No 22%
Duval County
Yes 78%
No 22%
Homesteaded property owners in the U.S. military or reserves, U.S. Coast Guard or reserves and Florida National Guard who are deployed will receive an additional property tax exemption with the likely passing of Amendment 2. The latest figures showed the measure exceeding the needed 60 percent approval. The additional tax exemption would apply to those deployed in the previous year on active duty outside the U.S.
Amendment 5
Statewide
Yes 63%
No 37%
Duval County
Yes 53%
No 47%
Amendment 6
Statewide
Yes 63%
No 37%
Duval County
Yes 54%
No 46%
A pair of constitutional amendments meant by backers to take some of the politics out of drawing legislative and congressional districts appears headed for approval.
The proposals, aimed at keeping parties from drawing districts to favor themselves or particular legislators, were on course to reach the needed 60 percent to pass.
Amendment 8
Statewide
Yes 55%
No 45%
Duval County
Yes 52%
No 48%
Florida voters narrowly struck down an attempt to alter the laws dictating how many students can sit in a Florida classroom. Amendment 8, which would have tweaked the existing class size law to eliminate the hard classroom size caps set in place by voters in 2002, garnered 55 percent of the vote, short of the required 60 percent for proposed constitutional amendments to be enacted.
The vote means that caps on school classroom sizes that voters put in the Constitution eight years earlier will remain. The 2002 amendment caps classes at 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 in high school.