Hometown Democracy probably won’t appear on ballot in November

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Jan. 15, 2008 – The proposed Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment, which would make it more difficult to approve zoning changes, doesn’t have enough signatures yet to make it onto the November ballot. Only two weeks remain until the submission deadline.

Should the amendment pass, it will add an increased level of risk to some commercial deals and make Florida less desirable to new or expanding companies.

Currently, the Hometown Democracy amendment needs 109,479 signatures in two weeks to make it onto the November ballot. The movement also suffered a setback when 4,738 signatures were removed from the original petition, the result of a new law, backed by the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR), that gives petition signers a chance to change their mind.

However, the leader of Hometown Democracy, Palm Beach lawyer Lesley Blackner, says she has submitted about 100,000 signatures beyond what is needed. Blackner says the state’s computer has glitches and some have not yet been counted. “I don’t know that I trust these numbers (from the state),” Blackner said. “I don’t have any faith in the system.”

Department of State spokesman Sterling Ivey says that there’s some truth to the signature issue, and the state has been trying to fix a computer glitch. One big issue, for example, is a compatibility problem between the state’s computer and four different kinds of signature verification programs used by some counties.

© 2008 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

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