The political action committee arm of the African American Accountability Alliance of Alachua County (4As) on Sunday made its endorsements for the amendments and referendums that will appear on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot.
The endorsements were made during a forum held at Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church that featured discussion about each state and local amendment on the ballot.
The 4As PAC endorsed the following state constitutional amendments:
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Amendment 1 that changes nonpartisan school board elections to partisan.
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Amendment 2 that establishes a state constitutional right to hunt and fish.
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Amendment 3 that legalizes marijuana for adults 21 and older.
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Amendment 4 that allows a constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability.
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The group urged voters to vote “No” against Amendment 5 that provides and annual inflation adjustment for the value of homestead tax exemption.
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It also urged voters to vote “No” against Amendment 6, which repeals a constitutional provision providing for public campaign financing to candidates.
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Locally, the group did not endorse the referendum that would once again allow Alachua County commissioners to be elected countywide, instead of by only those residents that live in the district the commissioner represents.
However, the group did endorse the city of Gainesville Gainesville Regional Utilities Governance amendment that reverts control of GRU back to the city commission and away from the newly established GRU Authority board, as well as the school district referendum that will renew the existing one mill ad valorem tax for school district operating expenses that was first approved by voters in 2008 and has been approved every time since then.
Advocates for the school district referendum included Jackie Johnson, the district’s spokesperson, Diyonne McGraw, chair of the Alachua County School Board, and Cayden Parker, a senior at Santa Fe High School in Alachua where he serves as president of the school’s Institute of Biotechnology.
Technical education programs like the Institute of Biotechnology and other programs throughout the district that serve all students, are paid for with the one mill tax referendum, Johnson said as she highlighted programs offered throughout the district, especially those that serve students in underserved communities such as east Gainesville. She ended her PowerPoint presentation with a photo of Anthony Richardson, the starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts who played football at Eastside High School. Richardson was enrolled in the Fire and Emergency Medical Services program at the Professional Academies Magnet at Loften High School.
“He (Richardson) credits his time in the program for helping him develop leadership skills,” Johnson said.
Parker’s attraction to the sciences was heightened during middle school when he learned about the Institute of Biotechnology at Santa Fe High School that led him become the first high school student to intern in the University of Florida’s Department of Neurology in the Neuro-Oncology Laboratories.
“It’s all about the students,” McGraw said.
Early voting in Alachua County will be held from Oct. 21-Nov. 3. The deadline to register to vote in the election is Oct. 7.
For more information about the election, visit www.votealachua.com or call 352-374-5252.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: 2024 ballot amendments endorsed by the 4As PAC in Alachua County