See this New York Times article on a proposal in the Florida legislature to submit to the voters a proposed constitutional amendment to limit Florida voters’ chance to further amend their constitution.
As I recall from some research I did for a conference on initiatives (held at USD last June—papers out soon in The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues), there appear to be no instances of the people ever voting to give up the power of initiative once given to them.
One of the most interesting aspects of today’s newspaper article is the statement: “The proposal in the House would put the question to a vote in the general election in November, but the Senate version would do so in the August primary elections, when the state’s many independent voters could not weigh in.”
Could it really be that state law could exclude independent voters from voting on this question? If so, state law would seem to be clearly unconstitutional. Perhaps the newspaper story is wrong.
UPDATE: Dan Smith writes that the reporter got it wrong. Independents may vote on a ballot featuring only ballot measures, rather than primary races. Dan’s point is that turnout among independents may be lower in a primary race.