Technical Amendments to the Constitution
This column serves to highlight inconsistencies found in the Constitution. These observations serve more as technical amendments and do not serve as the Steering Committee's position on any particular issue.
Amendment #1. Voting Age. In 1970, the voters of Florida were presented with and defeated an amendment that would have lowered the voting age in Florida from age 21 to age 18. Subsequently, the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted that lowered the voting age from age 21 to age 18. Because the United States Constitution controls on this issue and because Floridians age 18 and older presently vote in Florida, it appears appropriate that Article VI, section 2 should be amended to reflect that the voting age is now age 18. As a side note, section 97.041, Florida Statutes, was amended to c hange the voting age from 21 to 18.
Amendment #2. Suspending county Judges. Under Article IV, section 7(a), the governor may suspend from office any state officer not subject to impeachment. Up until 1988, county judges were included as "state officers" and subject to suspension. Subsequently, Article III, section 17 was amended to include county judges with the justices of the supreme court and all other judges among those officers subject to impeach ment. As a result of the amendment, the governor may no longer suspend a county judge. Unfortunately, Article V, section 12(g) continues to refer to the Governor's power to suspend judges.