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Florida Constitution Revision Commission

PUB 700635: Establishing Voter Initiated Recall Elections by Daniel Walker

ARTICLE VI: SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS, New Section.

Catchline: Voters' power of recall; state and local elected officials, justices, and judges.

(a) Registered voters have the power to recall all non-Federal elective public officials, including state and county court justices and judges.

(b)(1) Recall of statewide elected officials or state supreme court justices is initiated by delivering to the Secretary of State a petition stating the reason for recall; sufficiency of reason is not reviewable. Proponents have 150 days to obtain and file petition signatures of registered voters.

(2) Recall of non-statewide elective officials, district court of appeal judges, circuit court judges, and county court judges is initiated by delivering to supervisors of elections, in the respective districts, counties, municipalities, or circuits, a petition stating reason for recall. Sufficiency of reason for recall is not reviewable. Proponents have 90 days in which to obtain and file petition signatures of registered voters.

(3) A valid petition must be signed by a number of registered voters in an amount not less than 15 percent of the votes cast for governor in the respective district, county, municipality, or circuit in the previous gubernatorial election, for non-statewide offices, and statewide for statewide-elective officials and state supreme court justices.

(c) If the majority vote is for recall, then the official, justice, or judge is removed from office. At the special election, if any, to fill the vacancy, the recalled official or judge shall not be an eligible candidate. A recalled judge or justice shall not be appointed to a position on the court from which removed, nor for any other judicial position for the following four years. An elected official, if recalled, shall not be appointed to the office from which removed.

(d) An official, judge, or justice against whom a recall initiative or election fails shall not be the object of another recall initiative until the passage of 365 days after the previous recall, or 365 days after after the date of determination that an insufficient number of petition signatures was collected to compel the calling of a recall election.

(e) The legislature shall enact reasonable laws for circulation, filing, and inexpensive certification of petitions and for other matters concerning the conduct of voter-initiated recall elections.