Despite moves by state Republican leaders to limit citizen-led ballot measures, more than a half-dozen proposals remain in play with a Feb. 1 deadline approaching.
They include efforts to raise the minimum wage, ban assault weapons, expand Medicaid, legalize recreational marijuana, overhaul the primary-election process and increase competition among electric utilities.
Two key indicators can be used to gauge the chances of the proposals reaching the 2020 general election ballot: the number of signatures collected and the amount of money behind the petition drives.
To be successful, the initiatives must secure at least 766,200 validated voter signatures to win a place on the ballot by Feb. 1. That task has been made more difficult by a new law, endorsed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, that imposes more regulations on the process of gathering signatures. Among the new regulatory hurdles, it requires petition gatherers to be registered with the state.