Revoking democracy in the Sunshine State

The law, passed by the 2007 Legislature and implemented by “emergency rules,” permits the signers of petitions to take back their signature. The state has gotten along for 162 years without this, but that was before the arrival of Florida Hometown Democracy — the citizens initiative giving Floridians the final say on major land-use decisions in their communities.

Hometown Democracy scares the stucco out the state’s growth industry, and legislators were prompt to respond to the challenge.

Though FHD is a constitutional amendment — requiring 611,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot — the Legislature, spurred on by industry lobbyists, took it upon itself to throw up another hurdle.

When lawmakers decided two years ago that future amendments must garner at least 60 percent voter approval to pass, that change had to be ratified by the electorate. Logic would suggest that a political mechanism like revocation would, itself, involve the voters’ say-so.

But the Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee fast-tracked this latest change to “ensure ballot integrity.” The court quoted a 66-year-old North Carolina decision that opined “second thoughts are apt to be sounder” and any rule that “permits a withdrawal at any time before final action upon the petition is much more likely to get at the real and mature judgment of the voters.”

If later is better, why uphold the new 150-day deadline for revoking a signature? What about just showing up on Election Day and voting “no”?

While the court reasons that “the defeat of an aspiration is not the destruction of a right,” it winks at political manipulation.By green-lighting revocation, the court has created an even more unlevel playing field, where election offices are required to provide revocation petitions — but not the original petitions. Pending appeal, the court is also fostering a new cottage industry.