JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With the six-week abortion ban now in effect in Florida, younger voters are looking forward to heading to polls in November to make their voices heard on Amendment 4, which would either approve or deny the constitutional right to abortion.
The amendment would give voters the chance to vote “yes” or “no” to make abortion a constitutional right before fetal viability. At least 60% of voters would have to vote in favor of the amendment for it to be approved.
Millie Leeds, president of the Jacksonville Young Democrats, hopes that the abortion topic will drive voters to turnout and cast their ballots in November.
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“Our generation is not known for going out and voting. And I’m hoping that this changes things, you know, whenever young people showed up and voted in May of 2023, we elected Donna Deegan, and she’s done amazing work thus far,” Leeds said.
Ashley Skinner is the former president of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization at the University of North Florida. She is a Virginia resident and won’t vote in Florida but knows people who view the issue in a different light.
“A lot of young Republicans regard abortion as this instead of a yes or no pro-choice, pro-life issue as this spectrum, especially when we’re talking about determining viability. So I would say that the students that are very committed to the pro-life cause would be going to the polls to vote no on this amendment,” Skinner said.
In 2022, when Roe V. Wade was overturned, six states had abortion measures on the ballot. Those measures were approved in California, Michigan and Vermont while measures in Kentucky, Kansas and Montana were defeated.
Leeds said she isn’t concerned about the ballot measure failing in November.
“It doesn’t scare me,” Leeds said. “If anything, it just fires me up because I want to make sure that it does pass and I want to make sure that not only Amendment 4, but Amendment 3 passes, and that we get Rick Scott out of office and we get Democrats elected so we can actually get work done in Tallahassee.”
Skinner is unsure how voters will decide on this ballot measure in November.
“It would be difficult to outright say whether or not this amendment will fail because that then makes it something complicated, something that people have to have knowledge about,” Skinner said.
News4JAX Political Analyst Rick Mullaney said the measure is an advantage for Democrats.
“In the end, elections are about turnout. You got to be concerned about apathy or voters not turning out and then find a way to energize them.”