At his third anti-abortion campaign stop in two days, Gov. Ron DeSantis told Floridians that their default vote on proposed amendments should always be "no" until proven otherwise.
Gov. DeSantis' comments follow his opposition to the citizen-led and Democrat-supported Amendments 3 and 4, which would (respectively) legalize recreational marijuana and overturn the state's six-week abortion ban if passed by 60% of voters on Nov. 5.
But what about the four other amendments—all backed by the GOP and rejected by the Democrats—on the ballot?
"Anytime you're presented as a voter here with a constitutional amendment, your default should be no because you're changing the Constitution," DeSantis said at a Winter Garden event, hosted at a chapel to blast the abortion amendment. "Your default should be no and they should have to prove to you why there should be something to add to the constitution...You should insist on that standard, regardless of where you are in the underlying substantive issue that may be at play in a given amendment."
However, he said, if it's a clear and "good policy" that "protects taxpayers", he is "for" that amendment.
Amendments 3 and 4 were both put on the ballot by citizen signatures, and they are the two amendments the Governor opposes due to "vague" language. The other four were passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature and will go to voters on Nov. 5.
These include:
Amendment 1, which makes school board elections partisan; Amendment 2, which enshrines the right to hunt and fish in the state constitution; Amendment 5, which annually adjusts homestead exemptions for inflation; and Amendment 6, which removes public financing options for statewide candidates.
These amendments have all been endorsed by the GOP and rejected by Florida Democrats.
The financials going into these amendments don't compare to the controversial weed and abortion measures, whose main campaigns have raised over $60 million and $90 million since the initiatives were greenlit on April 1. To compare, Vote Yes on Amendment 2 has raised just over $1.1 million.
The election is Nov. 5.
