Florida voters on Tuesday voted in favor of retaining two Florida Supreme Court justices who have a documented anti-abortion history and who themselves sought to keep Florida’s abortion rights measure off the ballot.
As the Miami Herald reports, Justices Renatha Francis and Meredith Sasso — both up for a retention vote this cycle — tried to keep Florida’s marijuana legalization measure off the ballot, too. Unlike those constitutional amendment proposals, Francis and Sasso prevailed.
Justice Renatha Francis, appointed to the Supreme Court by DeSantis in 2022, received a 63 percent vote of support for maintaining her position on the state’s highest court, while Sasso — appointed by DeSantis in 2023 — received a 62 percent vote of support.
Proposed constitutional amendments, placed on the ballot for voters to decide, need at least 60 percent voter support in Florida to pass. While both Amendment 3 (recreational marijuana legalization for adults) and Amendment 4 (protecting abortion rights up to fetal viability) both received a vote of support from a majority of voters, both fell short of the 60 percent threshold needed to pass.
Amendment 4, which sought to enshrine abortion rights into the state Constitution and effectively repeal Florida’s current six-week abortion ban, received 57 percent of the vote — with over six million Floridians voting in support of the measure.
Amendment 3, which sought to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and over, received 55 percent of the vote — with 5.9 million Floridians voting in support of the measure.
Related
Florida voters reject Amendment 4, keeping Florida’s six-week abortion ban in place for the foreseeable future
Sixth District Court of Appeals
Also on the ballot in Orange County were five Sixth District Court of Appeals judges who had been endorsed for a retention vote by the anti-abortion Florida Family Action group. At least two of the judges — Judge Jared Smith and Judge Roger Gannam — have a documented history of either personal opposition to abortion (Gannam) or obstructing abortion access for vulnerable populations (Smith).
Judge Smith, who gained notoriety for rejecting a teenager’s plea to have an abortion without parental consent due to her grades, received a 63.8 percent vote of support for retention.
Judge Gannam, who formerly worked for the anti-abortion Christian legal group Liberty Counsel, received a 62.8 percent vote of support for retention.
Judge Paetra Brownlee, a member of the conservative Federalist Society appointed to the appeals court by DeSantis in 2023, received a 64 percent vote of support for retention.
Judge Joshua Mize, a former member of the National Republican Lawyers Association and longtime Federalist Society member, received a 63 percent vote of support for retention.
Finally, Judge Keith White, a member of the conservative Federalist Society and a former member of the Orange County Young Republicans, received a 63.8 percent vote of support for retention.
Although support for all five judges (and Supreme Court justices) was lower in Orange County specifically, all still received above 50 percent of the vote in the Democratic-leaning Central Florida county, too, among those who bothered to mark a choice at all.
All of the judicial races had a high rate of undervotes — from roughly 75, 000 to more than 100,000 — meaning thousands of voters didn’t bother to choose at all.
What’s next?
If retained, Supreme Court justices and appeals court judges serve six years before they are up for another retention vote. According to the Miami Herald, no Supreme Court justice in Florida has ever been voted out, even though it takes just a simple majority in order to do so.
If you’re unhappy with election results, mark your calendar for 2030.
Related
Florida voters reject Amendment 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana
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Florida voters reject Amendment 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana
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Orange County voters overwhelmingly approved Florida’s abortion rights measure, despite failure to pass statewide
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2024.
