Section One--for those signing the petition
Section Two--for those gathering signatures
Section Three--miscellaneous information
Section One
You can print the ballot initiative petition and mail it yourself.
Download it from this link.
Information about Hub locations where you can pick up blank petitions (if you don't have a printer) can be found at this link:
Here's the petition:
https://floridiansprotectingfreedom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSDE155A_999_2307_EN_Fillable.pdf
Use the QR code or this link to get your voter registration number:
People from all walks of life and from all political parties believe that the government should not interfere with a person's ability to make their own reproductive choices, nor should it obstruct a person's ability to get excellent medical care. As we stated in our April 16 guest column, the Jacksonville chapter of the National Organization for Women agrees with most Americans that abortion should not be illegal.
Read the rest of our LTE:
Our movement has launched FLORIDIANS PROTECTING FREEDOM (FPF): a statewide ballot initiative campaign to amend the Florida constitution to explicitly guarantee the right to abortion. Our goal is to get this proposed amendment on the November 2024 ballot; we know that the majority of Floridians will vote to support such a measure. If successful, this campaign will protect access to abortion care for generations to come and ensure our personal medical decisions are ours and ours alone to make.
To get on the ballot, 891,589 verified FPF petition forms will need to be completed by registered Florida voters and the ballots must be from all parts of Florida.
You may notice the petition has a link in it. If you click and follow the instructions, you'll eventually be taken to the page which includes this link which has the full text if you're interested:
Please see our Reproductive Rights page which has a video clip about the health reasons people, who might not ordinarily choose an abortion, did choose it to save their life.
You can print it and mail it yourself.
Download it from the QR code
or from this link.
More about Floridians Protecting Freedom: https://floridiansprotectingfreedom.com/
Section Two
Will you help us gather signatures?
Link to volunteer guide
Link to Jax NOW Mini-Training: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T9xP2lVVkxdNgvhus-s8vbNSJzIF2NKKwOzTecax6GY/edit?usp=sharing
FPF is asking us to mail or deliver completed petitions every week because the Hub needs time to do their part. FPF has 30 days to get it to the SOE after it’s signed. It's on page 9:
We need about a million signatures to get it on the 2024 ballot. There are deadlines so we need to start NOW and hopefully have a million signatures by December 2023.
We'll be attending events and we'd love for you to join us to gather signatures.
You can also gather signatures on your own.
A possible cover letter as you hand out petitions can be found at this LINK.
You can also volunteer to be a Community Hub. Contact us if you want more information about what that involves. We need Hubs in every congressional district if at all possible. See below.
Section Three
The responsibility for counting signatures is dispersed to the Supervisor of Elections in each county. Proposed measures are reviewed by the state attorney general and state supreme court after proponents collect 25 percent of the required signatures across the state in each of half of the state's congressional districts. After these preliminary signatures have been collected and proponents have submitted a ballot title and summary (initially approved by the secretary of state), the secretary of state must submit the proposal to the Florida attorney general. The attorney general is required to petition the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the measure's compliance with the single-subject rule, the appropriateness of the title and summary, and whether or not the measure "is facially valid under the United States Constitution. "Proponents must obtain signatures equaling at least 8 percent of the district-wide vote (in the most recent presidential election) in at least half (14) of the state's 27 congressional districts.
For more information: https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_Florida
If you've collected lots of forms in one day, then it's best to complete this intake form if you have the time to run by a drop off location. Find drop off locations on the Floridians Protecting Freedom website.
Suggestions as to where you can hand out the petitions:
From the Floridians Protecting Freedom Organizing Team that they sent after the 5/9/2023 training call
Volunteer Guide --this contains all the information we discussed on yesterday's call.
Hub Map: https://flfree.link/hubs We’ll also be adding new hubs regularly
Link to petition: https://flfree.link/petition Print them, collect them, submit them! Directions on how to do so are in the volunteer guide
Donate: https://flfree.link/give Every dollar counts to supporting this massive effort
If you take the Hub training, you can be a Community Hub for as little as two hours once a week. It can even be in a public place like a Starbucks.
Here’s the link tree for Hub information: https://linktr.ee/fpfhubs
A screenshot from this LINK which has a link to the pdf of the full text or click on the image for the full text:
Here's the screenshot from that link
of the full text of the Constitutional Amendment.
If you're wondering about the reference to Article X Section 22, see below. You may recall Floridians (several years ago) added parental notification to the Constitution and that’s Article X Section 22 which reads as follows:
SECTION 22. Parental notice of termination of a minor’s pregnancy.—The Legislature shall not limit or deny the privacy right guaranteed to a minor under the United States Constitution as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court. Notwithstanding a minor’s right of privacy provided in Section 23 of Article I, the Legislature is authorized to require by general law for notification to a parent or guardian of a minor before the termination of the minor’s pregnancy. The Legislature shall provide exceptions to such requirement for notification and shall create a process for judicial waiver of the notification.
The Division of Elections (DOE) site shows how many submitted petitions have been APPROVED. The SOEs have 60 days to post after receiving the petition from FPF. As of 6/8/2023 FPF announced:
If the 26,000 petitions already collected by volunteers is combined with the 35,000 paid petitions from last week AND the +/- 40,000 that have already been collected this partial week, we have just surpassed 100,000 petitions collected in less than three weeks.
The number of petitions needed from each congressional district is also indicated. Remember, we don’t have to hit the stated target in EVERY congressional district. We just need to hit targets from at least 14 of Florida's 27 Congressional Districts, with 891,589 petitions total. Here's a link to the DOE site for our campaign:
This is not required of any Hub. But if you have the volunteer capacity, it’s a great way to make sure petitions are valid, and as such counted. Please find a description of our process and sample language here:
Again, this is not required, but I’ve found a cohort of volunteers who are very eager to do this type of work.
Question: I feel bad to ask someone to completely redo a petition if they crossed something out and rewrote it especially at an event where they are in a hurry. When I receive those from other petition gatherers, I still turn them into the regional Hub. Is that OK?
Answer: One or two crossouts is a-okay. If possible get them to initial by the crossout.