Legislative wording can be so confusing that over the years state and federal legislators have described bills that appeared on their desks as six-to-12 inches high and full of language so twisted they don’t even understand what the bills mean.
Mostly that’s because legislation is written piecemeal — with one or more people sponsoring or writing the original bill, which then goes through a series of committees that add, revise and subtract from it — each in a committee member’s own style of writing.
Many times, amendments that started out with a clear purpose have ended up so confusing that, by the time they get on the ballot, saying “yes” to one may have originally meant “no” and vice versa. A statement such as “so you do not wish to see such and such due to the fact that such and such would override the premise that would ….”
These were not amendments the average Jane or Joe Voter could understand.
Well, there’s good news for Hillsborough County voters this year.
First, this year’s ballot is much less confusing. Better yet, if read carefully, the three Constitutional Amendments facing Hillsborough County voters spell out exactly what they mean.
Besides voting for Governor and his Lieutenant Governor — Republican Rick Scott (incumbent) and Democrat Charlie Crist (former governor) — residents will vote for judges, school board candidates, State Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture and others.
Hillsborough residents also have only three amendments this year, unlike Presidential election years when as many as 20 Constitutional Amendments sometimes are on the ballot.
This year, Amendment 1 concerns setting aside 33 percent of net revenues from existing excise taxes on documents for the next 20 years to preserve (pristine) protected lands, including the Florida Everglades. Figures are listed in increments from the beginning figure to the 20-year expectation.
Amendment 2 concerns the use of medical marijuana. Despite many misleading wordings that have appeared both in print and online, the actual ballot wording (if passed) “allows for the medical use of marijuana for individuals with debilitating diseases as determined by a licensed Florida physician.”
Amendment 3 charges the Governor with filling judicial positions left vacant by a judge reaching retirement age or having to leave the position for other reasons. As things are now, those positions must be filled only when the actual judicial term has ended.
According to Gerri Kramer, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office, this year showed the highest number of early ballots ever in the primary, with nearly 80,000 ballots, or 10 percent of all voters. Whether this will prove true in the General Election as well remains to be seen.
Kramer said that as of Sept. 1, Hillsborough County had 305,139 registered Democrats; 244,138 registered Republicans; and 213,596 registered to third parties or non-affiliated voters.
Experts in the Elections Office say the high number of third-party and unaffiliated voters makes the election impossible to predict.
Registered voters may visit www.votehillsborough.org and type in their voter information and see a sample ballot.
*Dates to remember:
Deadline for registering to vote in the General Election is Oct. 6.
Early voting will take place on Oct. 23 and again on Nov. 2
General Election is Nov. 4, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
