On Amendments, Florida Voters Way Smarter Than Kentuckians

While Kentucky voters are stupider than ever, Florida voters have really smartened up since electing Rick Scott as governor.  Not only did they reject a repug for U.S. Senate, they threw out crook David Rivera and torturer Alan West.  And they sent Alan Grayson back to Congress.

 

Most importantly, they looked at the 11 amendments on their monster ballot, carefully sorted the bad from the good, and passed the latter and rejected the former.

 

Well done, Florida voters! Get rid of Scott and we might start thinking about maybe forgiving you for 2000.

Other property tax amendments fared better, with more than 60 percent of voters approving targeted tax relief for veterans (Amendment 2), poor senior-citizens (Amendment 11) and spouses of military veterans killed in the line of action (Amendment 9).

But all other amendments failed by large margins.

Amendment 10, a $20 million tax cut for small businesses championed by Gov. Rick Scott, also failed, receiving less than half of the vote. Amendment 3, a state-revenue cap backed by Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, received less than 42 percent approval.

In perhaps one of the most decisive defeats of the night, nearly 65 percent of voters rejected Amendment 5, titled State Courts, which would have given the Legislature more power over the state’s judicial branch. 

SNIP 

Voters — by an 11-point margin — also rejected Amendment 6, an anti-abortion amendment that would have enshrined the federal ban on tax money for abortions into the Florida Constitution. The change would have weakened privacy protections for women who want to terminate a pregnancy.

Amendment 8 also failed. Voters rejected the so-called Religious Freedom amendment, one of the most controversial on the ballot, by 56 percent. The proposal would have repealed the 127-year-old Blaine Amendment, which (in theory) banned the state from giving money to religious institutions. In truth, the state has long contracted with religious charities to house the poor, educate the illiterate and feed the hungry.

Voters also rejected an amendment that would have prohibited the state from requiring people to buy health insurance, which would have put the state constitution in conflict with federal law.