Florida Local Option for Selection of Judges and Funding of State Courts Act (1998)
From Ballotpedia
Florida Amendment 7, also known as the Local Option for Selection of Judges and Funding of State Courts Act, was on the November 3, 1998 election ballot in Florida. It passed, with 56.9% of voters in favor.
Amendment 7 was one of nine ballot measures placed on the 1998 Florida ballot by the Florida Constitution Revision Commission.
The language that appeared on the ballot was, "Provides for future local elections to decide whether to continue electing circuit and county judges or to adopt system of appointment of those judges by governor, with subsequent elections to retain or not retain those judges; provides election procedure for subsequent changes to selection of judges; increases county judges' terms from four to six years; corrects judicial qualifications commission term of office; allocates state courts system funding among state, counties, and users of courts."
Aftermath
Amendment 7 mandated that voters in each of Florida's 20 circuit court districts and 67 county court districts would have a chance to vote on whether to change the way that circuit court and county court judges were chosen. These judges had been chosen, historically, through elections. Since Amendment 7 passed, voters were asked whether they wanted to switch to a system whereby circuit and county court judges would, instead, be appointed by the governor.
The votes on whether to switch to a gubernatorial-appointment method were held two years later, in 2000, and were resoundingly defeated. Voters in each of the 20 circuit court districts and 67 counties voted "no", in some cases by margins as high as 85% or more.
See:
- Florida Selection of Circuit Court Judges Act (2000)
- Florida Selection of County Court Judges Act (2000)
See also
External links
- Analysis of Amendment 7
- Florida ballot measure database
- Journals of the 1997-1998 Constitution Revision Commission
- November 3, 1998 constitutional amendment election results
