It's not easy to get an initiative on the Florida ballot. Sponsors have four years to collect valid signatures equal to 8 percent of the votes cast in the most recent presidential election. Presently, that's 488,722 signatures statewide. The total must include at least 8 percent from each of at least 13 of Florida's 25 congressional districts. When 10 percent of the goal has been met, the attorney general asks the Supreme Court to decide whether an initiative complies with Florida's single-subject rule and whether the ballot summary - limited to 75 words - is accurate or misleading. The court is no easy touch; it has bounced nearly as many initiatives (18) as have made it to the ballot (21). At the polls, it takes only a majority of those voting on an amendment to approve it - unless the amendment proposes to impose a new fee or tax. In that case, approval requires two-thirds of all voters who go to the polls. That condition was added by a 1996 initiative financed by the sugar lobby.
