Florida abortion supporters who want constitutional amendment race to deliver petitions as deadline nears
FORT LAUDERDALE -- After months of flooding shopping malls, libraries and farmers markets, volunteers in Florida are now sending stacks of petitions to a clearinghouse center in Sarasota
The petition, which aims to enshrine an amendment in the Florida Constitution that would widen abortion access, has been circulating in South Florida and statewide since state lawmakers voted to ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
"It has been quite a challenge," said Zain Remy, one of the supporters who has been collecting signatures for months and who is with the Broward chapter of the League of Women Voters, says she has had to educate a lot of voters about the issue
The volunteers will need to obtain nearly 900,000 valid signatures by the Feb. 1 deadline in order for the effort to move forward.
And organizers have to deliver the petitions in a week to each county's supervisor of elections.
The signatures are being verified right now at a clearinghouse in Sarasota.
"We collected over 1.4 million petitions so far," said Anna Hochkammer, a petition organizer who believes the issue crosses party lines. "Fifteen percent of signatures are Republican voters."
Organizers say over 750,000 signatures have been verified, and they think they will have the remaining 150,000 in hand to send to individual supervisors of elections within a week.
The committee by Feb. 1 will need to submit at least 891,523 valid signatures statewide and meet signature requirements in at least half of the state's congressional districts to put the measure before voters for the November 2024 ballot.
The committee also needs the Florida Supreme Court to sign off on the proposed ballot wording.