Florida Animals Need Our Help this November! Vote NO on 3!
http://www.trustthevoters.org/
Some of you may remember Amendment 10 on the FL ballot back in 2002. This landmark citizen initiative was a victory for the animals because it called for the banning of pig gestation crates for breeding sows on factory farms. Because of initiatives like this, animals in many states across the country have a voice during election time. But this coming november, this might all change in Florida if Amendment 3 passes. Heather Carpenter, a local activist who is heading the Humane Society’s FL campaign against Amendment 3, explains…
“Over the years the citizens in Florida have had the right to bypass big-money influence in the Florida Legislature and take important issues straight to the people, such as the pig gestation crate initiative in 2002. The Humane Society of the United States and other animal groups have been involved in two landmark statewide initiatives. In 1992, we backed a measure – Save Our Sea Life – to halt the use of commercial fishing nets that capture turtles and other marine life in them. In 2002, Florida approved by a 55% majority the first initiative ever to be adopted in the United States to ban the confinement of animals on factory farms. The measure banned the caging of breeding sows in gestation crates–tiny, two-foot by seven-foot cages in which pregnant pigs are housed for almost all of their dismal existence.
Due to the recent success of citizens’ initiatives by several social movements, including the animal protection movement, some forces in the state legislature want to make it nearly impossible for voters to continue to participate in this kind of direct democracy. Currently, Florida citizens have the right to amend their state Constitution by simple majority vote. But, the legislature has put a measure on the 2006 ballot that would increase the number of votes needed to approve ballot initiatives from 50% to 60%—a “supermajority”—of the electorate. If this threshold would have been in place in 2002, Florida’s breeding sows would have never received the protections they so desperately needed and deserved.
Super-majority voting is un-democratic. 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 – like term limits, better wages for workers, smaller classes, smoke-free restaurants, environmental measures, and protections for animals - it won’t be.”
Up until the final votes are cast in November, everyone’s help is needed to make sure this doesn’t pass. There will be many local campaign meetings if you’re interested in contributing your time, so stay tuned for more information.