Any person who, within 100 yards of any polling place on the day of any election ... solicits or attempts to solicit a signature on any petition ... is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in § 775.082, § 775.083, or § 775.084. When determining the area in which solicitation is prohibited, the distance from the polling place shall be measured from the entrance to the room or other area in which the voting equipment or pollworkers are housed.
The power to propose amendments to any portion or portions of this constitution by initiative is reserved to the people, provided that any such revision shall embrace but one subject and matter directly connected therewith. It may be invoked by filing with the secretary of state a petition containing a copy of the proposed revision or amendment, signed by a number of electors in each of one half of the congressional districts of the state, and of the state as a whole in the last preceding election in which presidential electors were chosen.
Article XI, section 3, having mandated that there shall be no less than eight percent of the described electors who shall sign such initiative petition before the same shall attain ballot status, we do not presume that the Legislature intended to enact a law where, by a random or spot check, less than eight percent would become permissible. It has no authority to so legislate. Let's Help Florida v. Smathers, 360 So.2d 494, 496 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978).
Because the Texas filing fee scheme has a real and appreciable impact on the exercise of the franchise, and because this impact is related to the resources of the voters supporting a particular candidate, we conclude, as in Harper, that the laws must be “closely scrutinized” and found reasonably necessary to the accomplishment of legitimate state objectives in order to pass constitutional muster. 405 U.S. at 144, 92 S.Ct. at 856.
Florida's procedures are not impermissibly burdensome as to cost ... County election suervisors charge 10 cents per signature to cover the costs of verifying the petitions, but they may use random sampling techniques which reduce the number of signatures checked and therefore the cost. Although filing fees may be waived, there is no provision for waiver of the 10-cent charge for minority parties. Plaintiffs have cited no cases holding that states must provide free access to the ballot in all circumstances. That minor parties must incur some expenses in accumulating the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot does not constitute an equal protection violation. 710 F.2d at 795 (citations omitted).
End of Document | © 2024 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. |