MIAMI (AP) — Florida voters are being asked to decide Nov. 4 whether the outgoing or incoming governor should fill three expected vacancies on the state Supreme Court in 2019.
The Republican-led state Legislature put proposed constitutional Amendment 3 on the ballot to avert what they called a potential constitutional crisis. Democrats called it an attempted court-packing power grab.
Three of the seven justices have 70th birthdays coming up in 2018. Seventy is the justices’ mandatory retirement age.
Their terms would end on Jan. 8, 2019, which is also a gubernatorial inauguration day.
If Amendment 3 passes, the outgoing governor would choose the three new justices. If it fails, the governor taking office in 2019 would get the picks.
The amendment needs 60 percent of the vote to pass.
