Early birds, get ready to vote 🐤

Christie Zizo, Digital Journalist

Daniel Dahm, Digital Content Manager

Published: October 21, 2022 at 7:03 AM

Think you have to wait a few weeks before voting? Guess again!

Hey guys, it’s Christie Zizo, and guess what? You can start voting next week.

Amendment 3 election question answered

Speaking of your election questions, I got my first election question from a News 6 viewer this week, and I was very excited!

Lynne asked:

I read your article regarding No. 3 amendment. Is this only for active teachers or will retired Orange County teachers benefit as well? Also, Is it true that non-qualifying homeowners will not absorb the cost for this if it is passed?

Thanks for the question Lynne!

To answer the first question: Florida Amendment 3 proposes an additional homestead property tax exemption for “classroom teachers, law enforcement officers, correctional officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, child welfare services professionals, active duty members of the United States Armed Forces, and Florida National Guard members.”

The amendment does not apply to retired members of any of those professions.

But there are other property tax exemptions on the books in Florida, and you can learn more about them at the Florida Dept. of Revenue website.

The second question is a bit trickier.

A Florida House staff analysis of the amendment found it would reduce local property tax revenue by $85.9 million.

The question becomes how is that lost revenue handled? Will county and local governments cut their budgets, or do they look for ways to recoup that revenue? If they do the latter, it could mean that non-qualifying homeowners, businesses and others might end up taking more of the tax burden.

The Florida Association of Counties opposed this amendment, and I have a call into that group to get more information on their opposition. They have not responded yet.

Learn more about Florida Amendment 3 HERE, and we also have stories on Amendment 1 and Amendment 2 too.

FILE - A man passes an early voting poll site, on Feb. 14, 2022, in San Antonio. Voters in heavily Hispanic parts of South Texas cast record numbers of ballots in the state's Republican primary last week, leaving the GOP excited about a growing shift toward their party. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File) (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Hispanic voters — are you coming?

Hispanics make up the second-largest voting bloc in Florida — 2.5 million registered voters as of August 2022. It’s grown by around 500,000 voters since 2016.

Yet Hispanics do not vote in large numbers, according to Mi Familia Vota’s Robert Negrete. There’s a lot of untapped influence for the political party that can reach it.

Historically, a majority of Hispanic voters tend to vote Democratic, but that’s changed in recent years, with Republicans making inroads, with anti-socialism/anti-communism rhetoric that resonates with newly-naturalized voters from countries with leftist regimes. Democrats have not done a good job in Florida of countering that argument, either.

And the largest group of Hispanic voters are not Democratic or Republican — they’re no party affiliate voters.

Learn more about Hispanic voters, why the group is more diverse politically than you think, and the issues that matter to them.