Federal trial over Florida’s ballot amendment process underway

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A federal trial is underway that will determine the future of Florida’s ballot amendment process. 

The state is being sued by "Florida Decides Health Care," whose leaders say the new system will be implemented by HB 1205, which was passed and signed in 2025.

What we know:

Those suing the State of Florida say the new rules don't just make it harder to get amendments on the ballot — it makes it impossible. And, they point to the fact that out of the two dozen amendments being pushed this year, not one made it to the ballot.

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"Smart and Safe Florida" is among 22 groups that failed to get enough signatures for their amendment to get on Florida's ballot. They got 783,000 of the 880,000 needed. 

What they're saying:

"Whether it's classroom size, water quality, access to care," said Mitch Emerson of Florida Decides Health Care. "These things are all popular issues that voters want to have the opportunity to vote on."

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The group partially blames the state's new law, HB 1205, that tightens requirements for how to gather signatures. 

It requires anyone collecting more than 25 signatures to be registered by the state, and it insists that all gatherers be Florida residents. 

The group is arguing with a judge that the requirements are excessive and legally threatening to those who participate, especially because it requires signers to submit partial Social Security or driver's license numbers.

"These restrictions just limit our ability to communicate with voters and educate them on the process and get the petitions," said Emerson.

Dig deeper:

But, state leaders say the changes are critical to protecting the process from fraud. 

The governor has long insisted that Smart and Safe Florida committed fraud during its 2024 effort, with the attorney general saying potentially hundreds of thousands of signatures were false.

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"In Florida, we've come a long way from the hanging chads era of 2000," Uthmeier said last week. "We have an election integrity unit. We protect our ballot. We protect the Constitution."

But, a key piece of evidence that the requirements are onerous, says Smart and Safe Florida, is not that their group didn't satisfy the requirements, it's that none of the groups did.

They say 0-for-22 is itself a key warning sign.

"There is a lot riding on the results of this case in terms of the future of Floridians' rights to participate in democracy and have their voices heard," said Emerson.

In 2024, Smart and Safe Florida got much of the support, with 55 percent, but did not get the required sixty percent.

What's next:

The arguments lasted all day in court. The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.