The current version of our state constitution is full of seamless and not so seamless examples of good, bad and meh amendments that have been incorporated into the constitution over the years. Pregnant pigs, pregnant minors, a minimum wage and fishing nets are just a few of the subjects addressed in the constitution thanks to the amendment process.

There are five ways to put amendments to the Florida constitution on the ballot, but three are rarely used: two seperate commissions that meet every twenty years, and the Constitutional Convention process which must be initiated by the voters.

The two other methods, the legislative and citizen initiative processes, are fairly common and typically produce a bunch of measures for voters to consider every couple of years.

The citizen initiative is a petition gathering process and can sometimes result in popular measures that are maddeningly progressive in the eyes of our conservative GOP Legislature.

The Legislative initiative is typically crafted with the help of lobbyists in back rooms and can be designed with ulterior motives in mind.

Sometimes, especially in the past few cycles, the Legislature has been known to respond to successful citizen initiatives with amendments that aim to change or cancel out completely the citizens' efforts.

In 2000, Two years after Jeb Bush was elected Governor, citizens proposed and passed a High Speed Rail amendment, enshrining the forward thinking concept into the constitution and legally locking the Legislature and Governor into action.

But Bush and the GOP dominated Legislature failed to fund the rail project as they placed their own anti-rail amendment in the ballot in 2004 and they managed to convince the voters to cancel out the previous measure.

Similarly, class size is still being debated. Citizens passed an amendment in 2002 mandating specific teacher to student ratios in public schools. The Legislature has been trying to get it watered down for years, and this year another Legislative initiative is on the ballot which aims to change the way heads are counted in the classrooms, thus weakening the original amendment.

So the pattern is becoming clear: first, the citizens propose an amendment which passes with majority support. Then the politicians respond by seeking to water down or completely do away with the citizen mandate. But just undoing amendments wasn't enough for the Legislature.

Between class size and high speed rail and some other mandates from the voters, including language protecting pregnant pigs from the worst abuses of corporate farming, the Governor and Legislature, as well as the powerful business interests that backed them, were starting to feel a little lack of control. So in 2006, as well as pushing amendments to undo the amendments they didn't like, they managed to get a super majority requirement amendment into the constitution.

That's right: stung by repeated voter demands to address important issues, Florida's leaders talked the voters into making it harder for the voters to speak out. From now on, all amendments to the Florida constitution would require a sixty percent majority to pass.

Which pretty much brings us up to date. As things currently stand, voters this year will have three citizen sponsored initiatives and six legislative initiatives to vote on, several of which are designed to dilute or cancel current or past citizen efforts.

All of which is fodder for several more posts this week. Stay tuned.

ACTION:  Check your voter registration status right now. (Florida Voters only)

Voter roll purges and database cleanups can wipe people off the rolls wrongly.  It's important to check your status before the July 26 registration deadline for primary races so that you can fix any problems.

Florida is a closed primary state, so a voter must be registered as a Dem or Republican by July 26 to participate in a party's primary  -  Independent voters cannot vote for primary candidates in most cases.  The one situation in which a party primary is thrown open is when all of the candidates in a race are of the same party and therefore the primry will determine the winner of the general.  But that very rarely happens.

Anyway, register by July 26 for the primary and by October 4 for the general election this year.

Absentee / Vote by mail

A few years ago, with paperless touchscreen machines the norm in Florida, voting absentee was the preferred method for those who were concerned about a paper trail.  But the paper trail problem was fixed when Florida mandated a scanned paper system for all ballots cast.

That's good news and that means that you can vote early in person with a paper trail and not have to worry about your absentee ballot being disqualified or lost in the mail.  Now if you still prefer to vote absentee, you can request ballots for the upcoming elections via this link, and you don't have to be out of the country or anything on election day - you can use absentee voting as a convenient vote by mail system if you like - but early voting is how I roll.

Early voting in Florida begins 15 days before the election and ends the second day before the election.  County Elections Supervisors are required to have their offices open for early voting and may optionally utilize libraries and city halls as additional early voting sites.

Voters may vote in person by casting a ballot prior to election day. The voter will use the same type of voting equipment that is used at the polls on election day. Early voting begins 15 days before an election and ends on the 2nd day before an election. During this period, early voting is conducted 8 hours per day on each weekday and for 8 hours in the aggregate for each weekend. Supervisors of Elections designate early voting sites 30 days prior to an election. Early voting will be offered in the main or branch office of the Supervisor of Elections. They may also designate any city hall or public library geographically located so that all voters in the county will have an equal opportunity to cast a vote. Contact your Supervisor of Elections for dates, times and locations in your county.

When you sign in at an Early Voting location, your custom ballot based on your precinct will be printed for you, you will fill in the bubbles - like on a multiple choice test - with your voting preferences, and your ballot will be scanned with the results saved for future tabulation.  Best of all, your ballot is securely stored for use in a real paper recount should one become necessary.

You can find your early voting locations at this link (PDF) or at your local County Elections site.

And, of course, you can still vote the traditional way on Tuesday, August 24 in person at your precinct.  However, if you experience any problems or snafus, you will be up against a hard deadline to get things straightened out, and your vote may not count in the end.  And if you've already voted early, you can spend the traditional election day getting out the vote for your favorite candidates.

Check your status.

Vote Early.

Volunteer - with Florida Dems or your favorite candidate.