Elections office verifies statewide petitions

MANATEE COUNTY — The 2014 elections are months away, but employees of the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections office are already buzzing with activity.

Workers are combing through thousands of petitions for statewide initiatives to legalize medical marijuana and to dedicate 33% of net revenues from the existing excise tax on documents toward acquiring, restoring and managing conservation lands.

Petitions are due Jan. 31. If all Florida counties garner enough signatures for each respective petition drive, the initiatives will appear on the November ballot.

Workers validate each petition by comparing street addresses, dates of birth and signatures.

“You’re trying to change the constitution of the state of Florida,” Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett said. “We want to verify the people who want to vote on this are registered voters in the state of Florida.”

As of Jan. 17, a petition to legalize medical marijuana in Florida had garnered 21,596 signatures. The petition for land conservation had received about 11,075 signatures, of about 28,000 needed between Sarasota and Manatee counties for each petition.

Bennett said about 20% of petitions received had been dubbed invalid for various reasons, including discrepancies in signatures.

BY THE NUMBERS
2 — Number of statewide petitions being considered for the November ballot

20 — Percentage of petitions deemed invalid

21,596 — Number of petitions received in Manatee County in support of medical marijuana legalization as of Jan. 17

650,000 — Approx-imate number of signatures each petition initiative must garner statewide

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected]