In honor of that Constitution Day, I’m posting an article out of Florida and asking some questions about the Constitutionality of state efforts to support or oppose state constitutional amendments. Your thoughts, concerns, questions, and/or reactions are solicited. Issue: Is Florida’s use of police power to question signers of a petition to amend the state’s constitution appropriate and constitutional? Police are questioning Florida voters about signing an abortion rights ballot petition https://apnews.com/article/florida-abortion-ballot-amendment-elections-police-cfd4e3479498e63e65f1116acd95f7be?user_email=85a5e31f8cb9543141697042262e5f44096be2eb9e8745228d8b4349029af0da&utm_medium=Morning_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=Morning%20Wire_10%20Sept_2024&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers AP reports the use of Florida’s new elections police to investigate Floridians who signed a petition, placing on the November ballot a constitutional amendment on abortion rights. More than 911,000 Florida voters signed the petition. “Mary Jane Arrington, a Democrat who has served as the Supervisor of Elections in Osceola County in central Florida for 16 years, told The Associated Press she had never received a request like this one before.” “Meanwhile, a state health care agency launched a new website last week targeting Amendment 4, with a landing page proclaiming that “Florida is Protecting Life” and warning “Don’t let the fear mongers lie to you.” “(Gov)DeSantis defended police visiting the homes of petition signers, and a separate move by a state health care agency to create a website targeting the ballot amendment, saying both are aimed at making sure November’s vote is fair.” Questions: 1] Does Florida’s use of police power to investigate signers of a petition infringe an Floridians’ Freedom of Speech? 2] Does the Florida state health care agency’s creation of a website opposing the amendment constitute an illegal use of state resources in support of an election issue? 3] Is DeSantis’s claim of “making sure November’s vote is fair” a reasonable assertion?

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