Florida citizens helped improve the lives of pigs via the ballot initiative process in 2002.

Over the years, Florida citizens have had the right to bypass big-money influence in the Florida Legislature and take important issues straight to the people. Now, a dangerous measure backed by powerful special interests, big business and an arrogant clique of Tallahassee insiders threatens to take away the voters' right to act directly on issues of popular concern, including animal welfare.

In 2002, Florida voters approved a ballot measure that provided more humane treatment of pigs on industrial factory farms. This modest measure required that breeding pigs must have enough room to turn around and stretch their limbs, rather than be intensively confined in two-foot-wide metal crates for months on end. This important animal welfare law, which required hundreds of thousands of signatures of Florida voters in order to even appear on the ballot, passed by a vote of 55 percent to 45 percent.

A new measure —Amendment 3—would increase the number of votes needed to approve ballot initiatives from 50 percent to 60 percent—a “supermajority,” rather than the simple majority currently needed. It’s a power grab by Tallahassee insiders who don't trust the voters to make their own decisions.

If the 60 percent standard had been in place in 2002, the ballot measure to protect farm animals would have failed. Amendment 3 will be a de facto ban on any future citizen initiative to protect animals, and this dangerous measure will come before voters Nov. 7.

If Amendment 3 passes, big-money politics will rule Tallahassee and make it harder for regular people to make change. When big business doesn't want an issue heard, it won't be. Florida already has one of the hardest-to-amend state constitutions, requiring hundreds of thousands of signatures from every corner of the state for a proposal to even be considered. Over the last three decades, politicians in Tallahassee—not citizens—have been responsible for putting more than 75 percent of all constitutional amendments on Florida’s ballot.

A new Trust the Voters coalition—made up of bipartisan groups on the right, left and middle—is working to defeat Amendment 3. The “No on Amendment 3” campaign has been endorsed by The Humane Society of the United States. 

On Nov. 7, 2006, please remember to vote “No” on Amendment 3. To help preserve our right to the ballot, visit trustthevoters.org.