HUNTING & FISHING RIGHTS, HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION ADJUSTMENTS GET THE GREEN LIGHT

With nearly every Florida precinct reporting at press time, only two of the six proposed Florida constitutional amendments or initiatives on the 2024 ballot will move forward. Though all six measures received support from a majority of Floridians, four of the six failed to clear the required 60% margin to take effect.

AMENDMENT 1 – PARTISAN SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS
FAILED (60% approval needed to pass)
YES: 54.96%
NO: 45.04%

Florida’s school board races will continue as non-partisan elections, as efforts to shift the choices to partisan elections beginning in 2026 fell 5% short. Proponents of the change, including Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters, said the move toward partisanship would avoid voters being “tricked,” as “There’s no such thing as a non-partisan race anymore.” Critics of the change said the move would only serve to create more contentious elections and school boards, detracting from focus on a candidate’s qualifications in favor of partisan politics.

AMENDMENT 2 – RIGHT TO HUNT & FISH
PASSED
YES: 67.4%
NO: 32.6%

Hunting and fishing will be preserved as a right in Florida’s state constitution, following the resounding passage of Amendment 2. The legislator-initiated amendment comes in response to about 12 states that have recently attempted to enact bans on hunting and fishing, while critics of the change argued that it could be a stepping stone to reopening banned practices or interfering with regulatory agencies’ ability to responsibly manage populations. Text in the amendment says it will not limit the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s constitutional powers under Article IV, Section 9.

AMENDMENT 3 – LEGALIZE RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA FOR ADULTS
FAILED (60% approval needed to pass)
YES: 55.86%
NO: 44.14%

Though medical marijuana was adopted in 2016 by Florida voters in a 71%-29% vote, recreational marijuana for adults over 21 will remain unlawful in the state, following the failure of 2024’s Amendment 3. Under the proposed initiative, individuals would have been allowed to possess up to three ounces of marijuana, with up to five grams in the form of concentrate. Existing medical marijuana treatment centers would have been authorized under the initiative to sell marijuana to adults for personal use, and the Florida State Legislature could have provided by state law for the licensure of entities other than existing medical marijuana treatment centers to cultivate and sell marijuana products. Recent ad campaigns from critics of the change focused on the sights and smells of excessive marijuana consumption in public spaces.The.

AMENDMENT 4 – RIGHT TO ABORTION
FAILED (60% approval needed to pass)
YES: 57.1%
NO: 42.9%

Widely considered to be the state’s most pivotal amendment, the failure of Amendment 4, which fell roughly 3% short of the required margin, means Florida’s six-week abortion ban remains in effect. The amendment would have blocked laws from prohibiting, penalizing, delaying or restricting abortions “before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” The Amendment 4 initiative to allow abortions until viability was initiated by a group of citizens known as Floridians Protecting Freedom. The campaign to protect women’s access to abortion spent a year gathering the required number of signatures to put the proposed constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot.. The group collected 996,512 signatures to place the question on the ballot.

AMENDMENT 5 – INFLATION ADJUSTMENTS TO HOMESTEADED EXEMPTIONS
PASSED
YES: 66.04%
NO: 33.96%

With the passage of Amendment 5, Florida homesteaded property owners will see an annual inflation-based adjustment to the homestead exemption used to reduce the taxable value of their primary residence. Before the amendment’s passage, Florida homesteaded property owners saw a static reduction of up to $50,000 in their home values each year.

AMENDMENT 6 – REPEAL PUBLIC FUNDING FOR STATEWIDE CAMPAIGNS
FAILED (60% approval needed to pass)
YES: 50.42%
NO: 49.58%

A roughly even split vote on Amendment 6 will preserve the availability of public campaign funding for statewide candidates who agree to the spending limits. Currently, public campaign financing is available for candidates for governor, attorney general, chief financial officer and commissioner of agriculture. The campaign financing is often intended to aid candidates who may not otherwise be able to compete in political races due to lack of financial support.